Recently, there has been a public outcry surrounding the well-known Chinese wedding photography brand “Bojue Travel Photography” due to issues such as customer service being unreachable, services not being delivered, difficulty in refunding deposits, and unpaid employee wages. Internal sources revealed that the company has come to a standstill. With the collapse of this leading brand, the rapidly evolving travel photography industry is now undergoing a reshuffle.
One individual, Mr. Chen, who was preparing to enter the realm of matrimony, paid nearly ten thousand yuan as a deposit to Bojue Travel Photography’s flagship store on Taobao last year. When they were ready to have their bridal photos taken, they were unable to locate anyone for the job. Customers were left in limbo as customer service, platforms, and merchants shifted blame onto each other.
Similar situations have repetitively surfaced on platforms such as Xiaohongshu, Douyin, and Black Cat Complaints, where consumers commonly expressed difficulties in contacting customer service, services not being rendered, and challenges in getting deposits refunded. “We paid the deposit but no one answers the phone.” “Why can’t we reach customer service? How do we fulfill the service we purchased?” “The bridal photos have been taken, the album has not been shipped, and we can’t reach anyone.” “Now we just hope to get the negatives, we don’t even expect any touch-ups.”
Previously, in response to concentrated consumer complaints about after-sales service, Bojue Travel Photography issued an announcement on July 18, pledging to “fully deliver” services for customers who had made appointments but not yet had their photos taken. For customers who had completed their shoots, a dedicated support team was established to prioritize photo editing and delivery of final products. The announcement also included a service hotline.
On July 11, Bojue Travel Photography released a notice concerning the holiday break for the wedding photography business, which sparked suspicions of the company absconding. According to the notice, since 2020, the company has been incurring losses annually, leading to the decision to put the travel photography business on recess from July 11 to October 31, retaining only follow-up and portrait services.
As revealed by headquarters employees, the company urgently announced a comprehensive suspension of the travel photography sector, including all domestic and overseas stores. The majority of former employees have left their positions, and Bojue Travel Photography is currently in a state of paralysis.
The Market Supervision Department of Xiamen stated that the company is currently in a state of suspension, and they are actively investigating the matter.
The China Wedding Expo announced that they have recently received numerous complaints regarding the failure of Bojue Travel Photography to fulfill a significant number of orders nationwide due to poor management. Starting from August 8, the China Wedding Expo will begin processing the first batch of Bojue order member inquiries.
Regarding internal matters within the company, a female front desk employee at headquarters mentioned the issue of unpaid wages: “They owe us several months’ worth of wages, with higher-ranking employees owed even more. We come to work solely hoping that the company leaders will abide by the regulations.”
On social media platform Xiaohongshu, multiple Bojue Travel Photography employees have publicly posted about salary disputes.
A netizen from Fujian with a tracked IP address wrote, “Bojue Travel Photography Culture Group Co., Ltd. has owed me 4 months’ worth of salary as of July 16, namely for March, April, May, and June. Despite multiple attempts to negotiate through HR, they keep saying ‘payments are being arranged,’ for four months now.”
Another netizen was more straightforward, stating, “My boyfriend joined Bojue Travel Photography last year and has never received his salary; he is owed sixteen thousand yuan, even though the labor arbitration ruled in his favor, it’s still irrelevant.”
The company’s notice confirmed the wage arrears and pledged to “pay off all historical wage arrears by December 31, 2025, in one lump sum once financing is in place.”
Headquarters staff confirmed that the company’s boss has not fled and is still “working remotely.”
As reported by the Market Supervision Department of Xiamen, aside from the company’s headquarters, the Bojue Photography store on Huachang Road in Xiamen is still in operation. The employees at this store hold onto a glimmer of hope for a potential resurgence of Bojue.
However, according to enterprise data, in March 2025, Bojue Travel Photography’s legal representative, Xu Chunsheng, had 16 million yuan in equity frozen by the Xiamen Intermediate People’s Court. Since the end of June, the company has received various court judgments, indicating an onset of intensive legal proceedings.
As a leading brand in the field of travel photography, Bojue Travel Photography, once flourishing with its slogan “Go anywhere you want to shoot,” has now garnered public attention for a series of negative issues such as unresponsive customer service, failure to refund deposits, unpaid employee wages, and the successive closure of store locations.
Salt Finance believes that the downfall of Bojue Travel Photography is not just a predicament for one company, but also reflects the stagnation of the entire travel photography industry. Based on analyses from multiple media outlets, reporters have identified two primary reasons for the sudden collapse of Bojue Travel Photography.
Currently, the domestic economic situation is severe, with a soaring unemployment rate and a continuous decline in marriage rates, which has become a long-term trend. Data from the Ministry of Civil Affairs shows that in 2024, the national number of registered marriages was 6.106 million couples, down by 20.5% compared to the previous year, hitting a new low since 1980, marking the ninth consecutive year of decline.
For financially strapped young individuals, once taken-for-granted wedding requirements have become considerations of “is it worth it,” with bridal photography no longer seen as a necessity.
Mr. Chen, the owner of a wedding photography studio in Chengdu, commented, “With declining marriage rates, it’s inevitable that fewer people will opt for bridal photography. However, any industry relying on population dividends will face such difficulties.” He observed that the sense of ceremony carried by travel photography is being redefined, with trends like couples’ travel photography, commemorative photos, and best friends’ casual bridal shoots replacing traditional wedding portraits, becoming the new norm. With lower budgets and more rational decision-making.
A young woman preparing for her wedding, Huang Huang, remarked, “For good quality photography, prices start at least at ten thousand yuan, but spending twenty or thirty thousand just for a few photos is truly not worth it.” For her, taking bridal photos is not about “displaying happiness” but rather “documenting the relationship,” as she considers the wedding ceremony relatively insignificant while viewing bridal photography as a more personal memory.
Internet industry analyst Mr. Zhang pointed out that contemporary youth place greater emphasis on value for money, leaning towards expressing individuality rather than replicating templates. Bojue Travel Photography’s insistence on a “production line” assembly-line style, with highly standardized editing processes, was unable to offer genuinely customized services, failing to capture the hearts of today’s youth.
On one hand, Bojue Travel Photography’s core profit model is “prepayment + secondary consumption”: when placing an order, consumers must pay package fees, and on the day of the shoot, they are encouraged to upgrade and make additional purchases.
On the other hand, Bojue Travel Photography underwent heavy asset deployment, establishing a large number of self-operated stores in popular travel photography destinations such as Sanya, Lijiang, Dali, and Xiamen, with the Xiamen headquarters alone spanning across 20 floors of office space. Their official website once claimed to have 112 travel photography bases worldwide, most of which were self-built or involved extended leasing deals, covering equipment, sceneries, attire, accommodations, and other substantial investments.
Industry insiders stated that Bojue Travel Photography’s business model of “prepayment + cumulative secondary consumption” had previously facilitated rapid capital turnover but also rendered the company heavily reliant on advance payments. Once the volume of orders decreased, operational costs became unsustainable, leading to a severe risk of a breakdown in the financial chain. Bojue Travel Photography’s extensive network of self-operated stores, high advertising expenditures, and fixed labor costs put them at a disadvantage in the face of low-price competition.
Following Bojue’s rise in popularity in the bridal photography industry, an increasing number of professionals have inundated the market.
Enterprise data from enterprise search platform revealed that there are 6,341 domestic enterprises related to travel photography. Among them, entities established within 1-3 years in the travel photography sector constitute the majority at 44.95%, with 2,119 businesses registered in 2023, marking an increase of over 268% compared to the previous year. In 2024, a total of 2,593 companies were registered, representing a year-over-year increase of 22.37%, reaching nearly a decade’s peak in registration volume.
Despite being only halfway through the year, an additional 1,055 companies have already joined the market. These newcomers mimic popular composition styles, filters, and camera positions while engaging in price wars like offering “4999 yuan photography packages” or “6999 yuan for Sanya,” swiftly encroaching on the mid-to-high-end market space on which Bojue has relied for survival.
In the midst of this intense competition, small photography studios have emerged as frontline forces. Typically composed of 3-4 individuals, these studios operate flexibly and are adept at seizing trends on social platforms. Leveraging the support of various social media platforms, the photography process has transformed into collaborative content creation, as customers can participate in layout design, styling, location selection, and even replicate viral photos from Xiaohongshu, leaving the studio to assist in “re-enacting.”
Mr. Zhang, the analyst, stated, “When the moves of the giants are unveiled, consumers can take matters into their own hands.”
Moreover, industry insiders mentioned that “destination weddings” have become a new trend post the rise of influencer-driven bridal photography, integrating services for travel photography, weddings, and honeymoon travel in various segments. For young individuals, this “one-stop” service can consolidate expenditures across different segments, proving to be more convenient.
Furthermore, some industry experts believe that the travel photography sector features strong cyclical patterns, undergoing rapid iterations from studio bridal photography to influencer-driven bridal photography and culminating in the current trend of destination weddings. Enterprises in the industry typically go through a cycle of “3 years of development—3 years at the peak—3 years of decline.”
As the travel photography industry continues to evolve, with a wave of small enterprises either retracting their operations or shifting directions while being squeezed by a flood of new entrants into the market. Consequently, behemoths like Bojue Travel Photography find their existence further constricted.