Sustainable Tourism Law

708 SUSTAINABLE TOURISM LAW It is daunting, if not futile, to attempt to lay out, in a compact manner, all of China’s legislative provisions related to travel and tourism, or in particular to sustainable tourism. This is especially so because tourism or travel activities in Taiwan, Macao and Hong Kong are governed in general terms by multiple provisions and regulations in scattered legislations. The major exception is in mainland China, where an overarching tourism law has been enacted and carried into effect since 2013 (and revised in 2016) – “ The Tourism Law of the People’s Republic of China” 7 (hereinbelow referred to as China Tourism Law, “CTL”). To assist readers who are unfamiliar with the Chinese language and have limited access to the laws and regulations due to a lack of (or non-existent) materials in English, the first section of this chapter will examine the major legislative provisions on tourism and cases decided at various levels of courts, whereas the second section explores how, on a macro-scale, sustainable tourism is developed in each zone. Owing to the limits of this chapter, considering the significant volume of tourism law texts in each zone, and to provide a sharp contrast between a civil law system and a common law system, this chapter will focus only on mainland China and Hong Kong . Readers are encouraged to seek out various texts and materials on tourism law, regulations and policies in Taiwan and Macao, which bear interesting similarities and differences from those of mainland China and Hong Kong. One shall also not lose sight of the fact that China is one of the member states of the United Nations agency, the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), with Hong Kong and Macao being associate members. The principles enshrined in the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism (“GCET”) 8 are in the process of being converted into an international convention. A Framework Convention on Tourism Ethics has been approved by the UNWTO General Assembly held in Chengdu in mainland China 9 . 7 中華人民共和國旅遊法 (Chinese). Adopted at the Second Session of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People’s Congress of the PRC on April 25, 2013 came into force on October 1, 2013 (Order Nr. 3 of the President of the PRC), and amended in accordance with the Decision of Amending Twelve Laws including the Foreign Trade Law of the PRC as adopted at the 24 th Session of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People’s Congress on November 7, 2016. Order Nr. 57 [2016] of the President of the PRC. 8 Adopted by the UNWTO General Assembly, 13 th session, in 1999 (A/RES/406(XIII) and endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly, 56 th session, in 2001 (A/RES/56/212). 9 22 nd session, in September 2017 (A/RES/707(XXII).