Sustainable Tourism Law

LAW ON TOURISM IN CHINA – MAINLAND CHINA AND HONG KONG 719 similarly, outbound tour escorts and inbound tourists guides (collectively, “escorts and guides”) shall not alter the itinerary without the consent of tourist participants and the travel agent, unless it is necessary due to emergencies or special circumstances 64 ; (iii) escorts and guides are to respect the customs and habits of the destinations or inbound tourists, not to smoke, drink alcohol, take drugs, gamble, sell medicine or any illicit items, during the tour 65 ; (iv) escorts and guides shall not collect service charges or gratuities, i.e. tips, from tourists by any coercive means or by changing, or refusing to provide, services as arranged 66 . Tourist guides are further prohibited from using any fraudulent acts to collect such gratuities; (v) escorts and guides shall not coerce tourists into joining self-pay activities (equivalent to separately charging tourism activities inmainland China) 67 ; (vi) outbound tour escorts shall not “…coerce and/or through inaccurate information mislead tour participants into purchasing any goods, nor shall they allow their service attitude to be affected because tour participants are unwilling to purchase” 68 ; (vii) in contrast, inbound tourist guides owe a heavier burden with respect to shopping activities (to tackle the then prevailing zero-fare shopping tours in Hong Kong). They shall ensure tourists understand their rights and freedom in participating, choosing goods, and making complaints, and shall not compel, mislead or force them to make purchases 69 . Shopping places must have been registered with the TIC and had undertaken to provide a full refund within a designated period 70 ; (viii)inbound tourist guides are also not entitled to accept any rebates from any shops as inducement to or reward for recommending tourists to 64 Part 3 paragraph 5 of Code of Conduct for Outbound Tour Escorts and Part 3 paragraph 1 of Code of Conduct for Tourist Guides. 65 Part 3 paragraphs 2.4 – 2.7 of Code of Conduct for Outbound Tour Escorts and Part 3 paragraph 4iv-ix of Code of Conduct for Tourist Guides. 66 Part 3 paragraph 8.2 of Code of Conduct for Outbound Tour Escorts and Part 3 paragraph 7ii of Code of Conduct for Tourist Guides. 67 Part 3 paragraphs 9.2-9.4 of Code of Conduct for Outbound Tour Escorts and Part 3 paragraph 8ii-iv of Code of Conduct for Tourist Guides. 68 Part 3 paragraph 10 of Code of Conduct for Outbound Tour Escorts. 69 Part 3 paragraph 9i-vi of Code of Conduct for Tourist Guides. 70 6 months for mainland China’s inbound tour group shoppers and 14 days for overseas inbound tour group shoppers.