Orwellian Tourism 2020? China's Social Credit Score.

Abstract

In 2014 the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) outlined their plans for the construction of a Social Credit System (SCS) with nation-wide implementation by 2020 (State Council of the People's Republic of China, 2014). The stated purpose is the continuous development of the socialist market economy through increasing trustworthiness and transparency of debtors and creditors, reducing risk of fraud and not fulfilling credit obligations (Baidu Baike, 2018). Details of how exactly the system will be implemented are blurry. The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) government is monitoring how Chinese tech-giant “Alibaba” uses its large data base to compile individual “credit scores” for its users. At the same time, various Social Credit Systems are rolled out locally by the cities (Zhou, 2018). Users are rated based on a score between 350 and 950 points. Five factors are taken in account, the first one being “credit history”, the second “fulfilment capacity”, the third is “personal information”, the fourth is “behaviour and preference”, and the last is “interpersonal relationships” (Botsman, 2017). Currently, the SCS is not mandatory, but millions of people voluntarily signed up for trial runs. Higher scores enable Chinese citizens to access loans for shopping online, rent cars without deposits, fast-check in to hotels and Beijing airport, as well as getting fast-tracked for European Schengen visas (Carney, 2018). How the mandatory implementation of the SCS will affect the world’s largest outbound tourism market is however anyone’s guess.