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I read:

"Dumping tours" refers to package tours offered by travel agencies at unusually low prices, in which they usher tourists to stores and force them to buy overpriced products such as cosmetics, nutritional supplements and duty free items.

However, I only see the term "Dumping tours" used to describe these tours in South Korea. This makes me wonder if that term is only being used in "South Korean English". I did find one use of the term "dumping tours" in Ireland, but that is literally a tour to dump garbage, not tourists.

Is the term "dumping tours" a generic English term to designate the type of tours described in the above quote?

Franck Dernoncourt
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    How long could such a business practice survive? Not long enough to earn a special designation, surely? Disgruntled customers wanting refunds / compensation, no repeat business or word-of-mouth recommendation. Sounds like an insane startup idea to me. – FumbleFingers Mar 04 '24 at 01:23
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    How on earth do they 'force' people to buy those products? What happens if someone refuses? – Michael Harvey Mar 04 '24 at 09:07
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    Lots of businesses work by forcing people to buy overpriced crap (timeshare selling, MLM, boiler room scams, etc). So the business model is plausible, but the name doesn't seem common (although I wouldn't know if it's used in specific circles e.g. by regulators or scammers.) – Stuart F Mar 04 '24 at 10:05
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    I've never heard the term. I'm British. – Richard Mar 04 '24 at 13:01
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    I think it's the article's translator/author feeling forced to come up with some English term for the thing (given that a term already exists in Korean). In German, you have something similar - Kaffeefahrt - but I can't think of a similar term in English. – George Hawkins Mar 04 '24 at 13:46
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    @StuartF "coerce" or "trick" might be a better term than "force". – Barmar Mar 04 '24 at 15:12
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    @GeorgeHawkins Honestly, kaffeefahrt seems like a great loanword to English for the concept; the humorous potential eggcorn only adding to the charm. – DotCounter Mar 04 '24 at 16:18
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    As a German, I wholeheartedly recommend the term kaffeefahrt! From German Kaffee ('coffee') and Fahrt (not 'fart', but 'trip'/'outing'), a euphemistic term for a 'cheap coach [tour bus] trip combined with a sales show', usually aimed at seniors instead of tourists though. – user134593 Mar 04 '24 at 20:17
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    @FumbleFingers Common in many parts of Asia, also seen it in Mexico. Lots of ways they survive: 1. insane profit margin on a few outweighs those who don't buy/never come back, 2. often used when there's a significant language/info barrier where the customer can't pronounce or type the provider's name, similarly travel agents or intermediaries may unwittingly set customers up due to the same reason 3. often done where there's poor regulation, bad rep? set up a new company 4. some people go into them willingly thinking they can outsmart the sellers (those that actually do may be banned) – user71659 Mar 04 '24 at 22:30
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    It's not really the same, but "tourist trap" is a phrase commonly used in Australia/New Zealand. It usually represents a business that provides extremely poor service/value because most of there customers are tourists who'll never come back. Locals tend to avoid these places. – David Waterworth Mar 05 '24 at 04:48
  • In some circumstances, 'dumping tours' might work but as an accepted part of British English no; you're on a hiding to nothing. – Robbie Goodwin Mar 05 '24 at 22:26
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    @FumbleFingers: "How long could such a business practice survive?" – I just found a video from a 1974(!!!) news report warning about them. I certainly have known about them for as long as I can consciously remember. Since 2022, laws have been tightened, but most victims don't even realize they were scammed or understand their rights, so they don't involve the authorities, which means the laws don't really matter much. – Jörg W Mittag Mar 06 '24 at 17:39
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    "Tourist trap" is common in American English, too, @DavidWaterworth. One might consider an airport a "tourist trap" because the prices for everything are exorbitant due to the captive audience... – FreeMan Mar 06 '24 at 19:34

8 Answers8

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The term is not familiar to me. So it is either a term only used in Korean contexts (perhaps as a translation of a Korean one) or a term used by travel agencies. It would be unlikely to be understood without explanation.

Davislor
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James K
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I am from England, and have never heard the phrase

WendyG
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We all haven't heard of it, because we're not Chinese tourists/tour operators/government ministers/etc. From reading the linked article, and then doing a search and finding e.g., https://inf.news/en/travel/368deac928c23d90df8d73175fbc0dbd.html , it seems it's the Chinese (and maybe the Koreans) who made up the term for this particular problem. Certain Chinese tour operators are selling group travel at prices below the cost of the transportation and accommodations, expecting to make up the difference (and then some) by receiving kickbacks from shopping stops on the tours. Needless to say, this only works if they tell the tourists that buying a certain amount is a required part of the deal.

One does hear "dumping" used to mean "selling products below cost" (i.e., dumping them onto the market) -- which might be where "dumping tour" came from.

Tom Hundt
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"Dumping tours" refers to package tours offered by travel agencies at unusually low prices, in which they usher tourists to stores and force them to buy overpriced products such as cosmetics, nutritional supplements and duty free items.

Sounds more like what are called "tourist traps". Get the tourists in & sell them overpriced gewgaws.

Shojo Dagger
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    "Tourist trap" describes an overpriced restaurant, souvenir store, etc. that exploits a tourist's ignorance, laziness, and/or relatively high disposable income in order to charge more than they could from locals. I don't think it fits the practice of bringing tourists to some destination and leaving them there unless they buy shit. The stores themselves might be tourist traps, though. – Jacob Raihle Mar 04 '24 at 11:43
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I have heard the phrase "dumping stocks" which means quickly selling a large quantity of stocks and causing the price to fall.

And there's also the pump-and-dump scheme which involves quickly selling overpriced stocks before the price falls to normal.

Then, there's the usage mentioned by Tom Hundt which involves selling (typically a lot) of items below their normal price, or even below their cost.

These usages all share a common element with "dumping tours," in that the seller wants to make a lot of sales. However, I've never heard of "dumping tours" before, and if I had, I would have thought of a bathroom activity before I thought about any of the above.

So, I would guess this is a Korean thing and that it's an extension of one of the idiomatic, similar-sounding phrases in English.

jpaugh
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I have never heard this term (Canada/USA English). The term for this practice that I have heard from contact with Chinese tours is "forced shopping". As well as tourist sites, participants are taken to shops where the operators earn a commission from sales, with varying degrees of time devoted to shopping and pressure to buy, as I understand it. I have never experienced anything too unpleasant, but there are stories.

I think this practice exists in all countries with substantial tourism, though it's more subtle in some places. Even in Canada (PEI) I've experienced it. If they take you to a really unique place that has unusual tchotchkes you may appreciate it, even if it's not the lowest cost place around.

I would not be surprised if there is a different English term for it in Korea.

Spehro Pefhany
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Not English English

As an English person, this is not a phrase in my language. I couldn't say about American or Australian English for sure, but I've never heard it in any media from those countries, so I'm betting against it.

England does have the concept of a "booze cruise". Taxes on alcohol and cigarettes are much lower in France, so it is common for people to take a same-day-return ferry crossing across the English Channel, purely to load their car with cheaper products. A similar thing happens with US states, where taxation in different states makes it cheaper to cross the border for some things; or of course where something is legal in one state and illegal in another. They don't have such a snappy name for it though. :)

This is a bit different from your situation though, because these are trips to buy things you definitely want; whereas your example is a trip where you get conned into buying things you don't want.

Graham
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  • With no sales tax in New Jersey, it is (or at least was) quite common for New Yorkers to cross the border to do their shopping, particularly for durable goods (clothing, etc., not food items). My grandparents took me from Mid-town Manhattan to Jersey for clothing shopping more than once. – FreeMan Mar 06 '24 at 19:37
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In Thailand which confronted a similar problem a few years ago these are generally called "zero dollar tours" in English:

https://so05.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/spurhs/article/view/193289 https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/general/2552350

Matt
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