Travel agencies must not shirk their duties

An official with the Haixia Friendship (Pingtan) Travel Agency, a Taiwan-funded company in Pingtan, shows his upgraded business license. Optimistic about the potential of Pingtan’s tourism, the company announced more services in the future. [Photo/Agencies]

The china consumers Association issued a report on Wednesday, summarizing the experiences of volunteers who joined 196 domestic travel agency tour groups. The report says all the arranged routes under the survey had quality problems, more than 74 percent of them serious. Comments:

The CCA move is welcome. But not being a government department, it cannot punish tourism agencies for their misdeeds. When a dispute arises between tourists and tourism agencies, government departments tend to wash their hands of the issue claiming it is not their concern. Since the failure of government departments to fully implement the law has caused the chaos, we expect them to act on the CCA's report.

Beijing Youth Daily, Oct 29

The report indicates tourism agencies in provinces in Northeast China have a particularly bad reputation, while those in East China are relatively better. That's partly because Northeast provinces lag behind other regions in economic development and travel agencies there appear under greater pressure to make a profit. Only when the nation as a whole prospers can the domestic tourism industry truly improve.

Liu Simin, deputy secretary-general of the Beijing Tourism Association, Oct 29

The majority of Chinese tourists travel during the limited public holidays, which weakens their bargaining power with travel agencies. The authorities have to strictly implement the Labor Law and protect workers' rights to get more paid leave in order to overcome the dilemma.

Hao Qingfeng, a researcher at the China Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law Society, Oct 29

Many reports have highlighted how travel agents threaten tourists with violence or even attack them. Since domestic travel agencies seldom regulate the actions of their staff, agencies with bad records cannot be screened out of the market. This harms agencies that are true to their cause and spoils the reputation of the entire tourism industry.

Wang Xingbin, an expert at the China National Tourism Administration, Oct 29