China Released New Regulation on Overseas Tourism

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 ◆ China Released New Regulation on Overseas Tourism

China released Monday a new regulation governing Chinese tourists traveling abroad, which will go into effect on July 1.

The 33-article regulation stipulates that foreign tourism destination countries should be decided by China's tourism authorities with the approval of the State Council, China's cabinet.

About 20 destination countries have been selected, including major member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Egypt and Turkey.

The rule also stipulates that travel agencies providing foreign tourism services should meet the following requirements:

-- Agency must have held international travel service qualifications for at least one year.

-- Agencies should have achieved outstanding accomplishments inorganizing visits of foreign tourists to China.

-- And such agencies must not have been involved in any major unlawful practices or had serious problems in service quality.

The regulation also requires travel agencies to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of tourists.

When providing foreign tourism service, organizing travel agencies should sign contracts with tourists, which include travel itineraries, prices, food, accommodations, transportation as well as their responsibilities in case of breach of contract.