Some tourists fail behavior test at Disney

Mickey Mouse performs at Shanghai Disney Resort. Gao Erqiang / China Daily

TOURISTS FLOCKED TO the recently opened Shanghai Disney Resort over the weekend, and a few of them reportedly jumped queues, littered the streets and even let children relieve themselves in the open. Beijing Youth Daily commented on Monday:

It did not come as a total surprise to see some tourists breaking rules while visiting Disney's first theme park on the Chinese mainland. Such behaviors were seen even during a month's trial period before the park's official opening on Thursday.

Apparently, a few Chinese citizens did not－or would not bother to－pass the public behavior test, because for them, Disneyland is no different from the other parks they have visited at home and abroad.

Some even reportedly dropped litter in the sea near Palau while visiting the island country in West Pacific Ocean.

But assigning thousands of volunteers to instruct tourists to behave properly is unrealistic. And adding some names to the blacklist, as the country's interim regulations on tourists' behavior suggests, has hardly deterred others from misbehaving; besides it is impossible to record the actions of all tourists or restrict all of them.

The lack of respect for public order, as seen at the Shanghai Disney Resort, highlights the need to instill a sense of self-discipline in Chinese tourists. And for that to happen, governments at all levels should keep strengthening the social credit system and promoting liberal education in schools.

Including tourists' misbehaviors in their credit record may help them develop good habits and teach them to respect public property and order. The process should be carried out in a scientific and fair manner to ensure its influence on tourists is formative.