China clamps down on tourists defacing monuments and the practice of obtaining shopping kickbacks
Oct. 3 – China has issued several new laws that will impact upon its domestic tourists in a step to decrease the amount of unruly behavior both at home and overseas. One of the new regulations includes a ban on tours that include “shopping” trips – where tourists are bused to specific locations and encouraged to spend money on trinkets. Passed in order to weed out tours that offer cheap prices but actually cost more in the end due to companies taking commission from sales, it has also pushed up the cost of such tours, which have immediately climbed about 30 percent in the past few early days of the October holidays.
Also targeted are “tourist vandals” – those who leave graffiti on popular monuments and at tourist sites. They now face ten days detention back in China if caught either home or abroad. A Chinese national carved his name on a priceless 3,500 year old Pharonic fresco in one of the tombs in Luxor, Egypt, earlier this year, while another defaced an ancient rock in Taiwan.
In terms of the “kickbacK’ tours, where participants spend long waits at selected shopping outlets, tour operators who engage in this will now face having their licenses revoked and being fined up to RMB300,000. Tourist sites that raise prices specifically for holidays have also come under fire – they must now give 6 months notice before raising fees and before doing so must hold a public consultation.
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