China to Rectify Outbound Tour MarketAccording to news from the working conference on the National Rectification of the Outbound Tour Market which was opened on August 29, beginning from September, China will launch a rectification of the outbound tour market, focused on tours to Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the regions of Hong Kong and MacaoHe Guangwei, director of the National Tourism Administration (NTA), said at the conference that during the rectification, the STA will join hands with the industrial and commercial, and public security departments to strengthen supervision over 65 travel services and their agencies. They are not allowed to do any business beyond their business scope, nor organizing Chinese citizens to travel to destination countries without permission from the State, nor selling at a price lower then the cost, nor accepting the quoted price of a reception agency abroad, which is lower than the cost, nor coercing and inducing travelers to do shopping or to take part in items at their own expense and nor taking tourists to porno centers. Once violation of these regulations is discovered, the violator's right of handling outbound tour shall be revoked. Leaders of tourist groups are forbidden to accept any kickbacks, otherwise when losses are incurred to the tourists as a result of the tourist group leader's dereliction of duty, the organizing agencies shall compensate for the losses and the group leader shall be disqualified. So far, China has approved the following destination countries and regions for tour: Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Brunei, Nepal, Hong Kong and Macao. Japan will also be formally opened for traveling. |
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