You're listening to Roundtable with myself, He Yang.
I'm joined by Steve and Yushan in the studio.
Coming up, from dreamy wedding photos to family photos at stunning locations.
Travel photography has captured hearts across China for close to a decade now.
But behind those glossy images there's a world of hidden fees, rushed shoots and business challenges.
Today, we're diving into what makes this booming industry tick and what happens when a giant like Bojue hits turbulence. and no more awkward stares while changing diapers for fathers.
Shopping malls in Beijing and other big Chinese cities are rethinking nursery rooms, turning them into family-friendly spaces for both parents.
It's a small adjustment, but one with big social meaning.
Our podcast listeners can find us at Roundtable China on Apple Podcasts.
Got something Is the real thing always better than a studio setup?
Imagine having...
Professional photographers take your photos in front of the actual Temple of Heaven or Eiffel Tower instead of inside a studio with artificial backdrops and lighting.
Travel photography first became the dream service for newlyweds a few years ago.
Over time, it's grown popular with families with kids and individuals who want portraits taken in stunning real-world locations.
Lately, though, the industry's glossy image has cracked.
One of the industry's biggest names, Bojue Lu Pai or Bojue Travel Photography, has hit serious financial trouble, shutting down parts of its business and leaving both customers and employees in a bind.
When a giant stumbles, it makes you wonder is this just a one-company struggle or a sign of deeper issues across the travel photography industry?
Give us the overview of the travel photography or lupai market, please.
Do people still pay for it in 2025?
Oh, yeah.
Even though the industry is kind of past its prime.
Like you said, He Yang has been here for almost a decade or so, but people still won't settle for simply just taking pictures inside the studio using fake backgrounds, but they prefer getting out in the real scenic spots.
So, first of all, the whole travel photography business.
They have the booming tourism market, domestic tourism market, to thank, because in recent years our tourism market is really making a comeback, with official data suggesting that there were 56 billion domestic trips made in 2024.
That's up nearly 15% from the year before and back to over 93% of pre-pandemic level.
So basically, borrowing this big say, popularity from the tourism industry.
People's demand for travel photography is still growing.
So this is from a survey by iMedia that more than half of travelers they still book these shoots, or rather added package to their trip to capture beautiful moments while they're out there.
And about the same number of people.
They see them as a lasting keep, or rather say a long-lasting souvenir you can bring back from your trip.
So yeah, the answer is people still pay for it and they still kind of like it.
Yeah, and the number of companies involved has skyrocketed.
A couple of years ago, registrations jumped 268%.
There were over 2100 new companies in this industry, and that was the fastest growth it had experienced in 10 years.
And then last year, The momentum didn't slow down at all.
It kept climbing another 22% to 2,593, almost 2,600 new businesses.
So clearly the industry is still on fire.
But it seems like the buzz has moved away from the early giants within the industry.
Right.
And Steve, let me check something with you.
Let's say, in Canada or countries you're familiar with, is this something that would be a business proposition that would fly?
So basically you're talking about professional photographers and the whole crew going with you to another city, or Like they travel together with you.
Yeah, and even go to a different country, but now this is less common.
But anyway, it sounds like a lot of money and time being spent just to get you these pictures taken on location.
I've... heard of hiring professional photographers to do your photos for you at the location.
I've never heard of someone getting on an airplane with you to travel to that location, unless you are an A-list celebrity.
This is not, as far as I know, not something that your normal family would do.
Yeah.
And this is called travel photography and it's been big business in china for some time now.
Boju travel photography.
Once the undisputed giant of the industry, is in serious trouble, could you walk us through why it's running into financial turmoil?
Wow recently, bourgeois just announced that it would scale back operations.
That that means they're closing unprofitable stores nationwide and also putting its travel photography business.
They call it a slack season holiday from July 11 to October 31st this year.
So basically they're pausing all of their operations nowadays.
And behind that decision are just many troubling signs, because customers they are unable to get refunds or reach after-sales services nowadays, since they've already stopped their operations.
And also they kind of own a lot of customers of more than 15 million yuan.
That's roughly 2 billion yuan.
U.S. dollars in unpaid wages.
The customers or the employees?
That's to the employees, yes.
And ever since June 2025, this company, they have been receiving multiple court judgments and it attributed these issues to order reduction, revenue decline, high costs and difficult capital turnover, and also continuous losses for several years.
So yeah, we know Bozhi, this brand, is a previous previous giant in this industry.
Oh definitely, it's the most well-known and in 2019 it became so wide known it it created that annoying earworm with its commercials, something like you know, you can shoot wherever you want.
Because it will yeah, because they will take you there.
But that was in 2019, during the heydays of the company.
So is Bojue's situation just a single company going through hard times?
Or does it reflect the tip of the iceberg of the whole industry, that there are some bigger issues happening?
Yeah, there are some issues that's kind of cross passing different say companies brands, and it's just not just one brand issue.
For example, there are many travel photography studios.
That's kind of playing this trick with luring in customers with cheaper packages and then pile them up on hidden fees and upgrades afterwards.
And usually the cheaper.
Say, packages are always unavailable, so that you can go for the pricier ones.
The old bait and switch, I think is what they call that.
Yeah.
But for an industry to grow to this big, it must have answered the sore needs of many customers, and for its expansion to stagnate like what it is now, then there must be other things going on.
And some are attributing to, well, maybe you don't have that many people getting married these days.
Maybe it has something to do with this business might just not be all that suitable to scale up to such a massive sort of level, because you're constantly kind of having to.
So the cost is really high up there.
So what do you think is going on?
What are the problems here?
Yeah, the heavy assets has always been an unresolved problem within the industry as well, because Borgia is just one of the say, the leading ones previously and they they've already ran on a heavy asset model for years, pouring huge upfront costs into the bases, the equipments, the costumes and full teams.
You know, each time when they send out a team is a whole team coming with you.
So, of course, if the orders are declining, like they claimed, then yeah, there's no revenue coming in.
It's a huge attack on the industry itself, right?
So, scaling down, if you look at the future and how to deal with that problem, just do the opposite, right?
Um, then you don't have to send a large team with people anymore.
That's a big burden, right?
And it's a lighter approach, but it can reduce your costs obviously, and you offer there more flexibility, I think, in your potential customer base too.
Yeah well, you know, despite the pros and cons, I suppose photographers and teams out there are doing some things differently to win customers' trust.
Do you see any success stories or maybe valuable approaches?
Yeah, there is actually one that's reported by China Youth Daily lately.
So this documents of one photographer, Zhao Ran, who is a seasoned travel photographer with seven years of experience.
And also he hosts a team of eight.
It doesn't specify which cities this team is at.
I would assume they just travel around.
But two things that he prioritizes is first travel, client trust and also the strong focus on detail.
So his team primarily gains clients through offline channels, which is word of mouth, recommendations between customers.
So that's making up over 70% of his businesses.
So that's really a legitimate proof of how good the service is in the first place, and also he is really good at attending details like the time, the routes, how to plan everything so reasonably.
So that's also a winning point for this team as well.
So yeah, that's a very good example.
Coming up next from mother and baby room to parent and baby room, what does a single word reveal about changing views on parenting?
Stay tuned.
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You're listening to Roundtable with myself, He Yang.
I'm joined by Steve and Yushan in the studio.
At Beijing's Chaoyang Joy City, the traditional mother and baby room has been changed into a gender-inclusive parenting room, open to both moms and dads.
Over Huiduo Mall, that's a different shopping mall, there's even a dedicated super dad spot.
These changes are turning heads both online and offline, with many applauding them as a real step forward for society.
So tell us, in all these Beijing malls, what amenities for...
The parents are being provided in nursery homes, nursery rooms.
It's now turned into a parenting room that has automatic doors and it has partitions that separate breastfeeding areas from diaper changing sections.
The mall staff.
They said they're going to keep monitoring the feedback so that they can improve the facilities as needed.
With those partition spaces.
It means moms can breastfeed their children and dads can still be in there and change the diapers in a separate location, which is a great, considerate thing to do.
Another mall, they call it the super dad spot, as you mentioned.
They have a lot of different spots for moms, several nursing rooms for moms.
But they created these super dad spots because dads, they got feedback from their customers.
And they often felt awkward or unwelcome, too.
That was the feedback that they got in the mother and baby rooms.
So that's why these things have been created.
Well, it's in Chaoyang, Joy City in eastern Beijing, right?
I've been to multiple malls here in Beijing.
And one detail I noticed is that sometimes the malls they will combine these special rooms for nursery or for child caring rooms as part of the female's bathroom.
And I've never been into a male bathroom to tell if there's such a place, but I would assume no.
So this is really a huge step forward on having the whole parent, both parents in childcare.
And this is not only happening in Beijing.
Shenzhen already has similar facilities as well.
They've got this rainbow supermarket super dad spot in Bao'an district.
And it's really easy to find inside the mall.
They have all the different facilities, including hot and cold water and heated wipes and formula preparation areas.
So yeah, in all over China, in major cities.
This is one big step forward in just let the task join the labor.
Yeah, no, this is wonderful.
And it happens in other parts of the world as well.
There was an article from yahoo australia from last year.
They were talking about how they had this space in a mall.
But in that particular space, if you wanted to use the parenting room, you had to press an intercom button for access to it, because apparently i guess people who were not parents were using it to like, take a break during their shopping experience, which is not a good thing, but uh, anyway.
So yeah anyway, they have the, the spaces in australia, in thailand uh, they have them as well, The ones in Thailand.
At some of the malls, they put the parenting rooms this is really considerate near food courts or restaurants.
So the rooms near those locations are really convenient for parents because they can feed their babies and change their diapers and grab a bite to eat without having to go from one side of the mall to the other side of the mall.
So that's a really considerate thing to do.
Also quickly, in the UAE, they have them as well.
And in all the examples given, The feedback from the dads is wonderful.
Oh, that's great.
Why does this matter?
What bigger change does it point?
Well, I'll say it's more of a cultural shift as a start.
Like we mentioned, this is about how to include both parents in the childcare business, let's say.
And also this is about public policy and social progress, because most well-equipped facilities they are currently limited to large malls, but everyday spaces like subway stations, hospitals or community centers.
They often lack even basic options.
So maybe this can also be a tip for these facilities to include such a space for say, parental childcare facilities.
As well.
So, yeah.
And at its heart, this trend reflects a societal learning to recognize, respect and support caregiving as a shared human responsibility.
One of the things they do have to be careful of is the same thing, the same problem that existed before, because when they had these mommy spaces, dads felt alienated.
Right.
And so they said, OK, we'll make these kids.
Daddy spaces as well.
And experts are saying, well, why don't you're just going to create the same problem again?
So why don't you just call them family spaces or parenting rooms or unisex spaces for your children?
Things like that.
So they're working on it, but I think we can all agree.
This is just a great thing.
Yeah, I think it's definitely a social change in China.
When, judging from this facility, you can assume that there are dads taking care of their kids and going about it alone, possibly in a public space.
And well done, dads.
Good job for stepping up and carrying your part of the child rearing responsibility.
And that brings us to the end of today's show.
Thank you so much, Steve and Yushan for joining the discussion.
I'm Ha Young.
We'll see you next time.
