Sustainable Tourism Law

LAW ON TOURISM IN CHINA – MAINLAND CHINA AND HONG KONG 729 been a long-standing issue of the country. In order to develop the tourism industry sustainably, the opinion requests tourism departments of each level to comply with a scale of administrative sanctions to be imposed upon the violation of the CTL, and to strengthen the training of tour guides and the education of tourists; (ii) the aforementioned Measures for the Administration of Tourism Safety was also expressly made to promote “ …the continuous and sound development of the tourist industry” by strengthening tourism safety administration (Article 1). Apart from laying out the statutory duties of tour operators, the state is required to set up a nation-wide risk alert system, and tourism departments at all levels shall strengthen their safety administration in specific directions; and (iii) with respect to tourism resources protection, another set of measures issued by the CNTA in 2007 is seemingly still in force, titled (unofficially) Interim Measures for the protection of tourism resources 114 . It was put in place to conserve the natural environment and resources in order to facilitate the sustainable development of tourism. Awide range of tangible and intangible “tourism resources” are to be protected, for example, natural and cultural heritages; geology; forests; scenic spots; water conservation; cultural relics; urbanpacks; wetlands and islands; andoceans.Method includes conducting regular reconnaissance surveys, strengthening public education, setting up data systems to record the status of exploitation, setting aside funds specifically for this purpose, recruiting experts from different disciplines, prohibiting any tourism business in undeveloped areas. Hong Kong As mentioned above, to date, the CTL has not been made as part of the laws of this zone. Domestically, legislative emphasis is placed on licensing, regulations and penalties for travel agents and other service providers, whereas the sustainable development of tourism relies on non-binding governmental policies. This is because article 119 of the Basic Law of Hong Kong 115 provides that the Hong 114 旅遊資源保護暫行辦法 (Chinese), nr. 131 [2007] of the CNTA. It is unclear as to whether it has the force of law. Nr. official English translation for title and its content is provided. 115 In full, the Basic Law of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the PRC (English) 中華人民共和 國香港特別行政區基本法 (Chinese). It is a piece of legislation of the PRC at national level which came into force on July 1, 1997, the time of transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to PRC in accordance with the Sino-British Declaration effected on May 27, 1985. It is recognised by Hong Kong courts as the constitution of Hong Kong in, and since, Ng Ka Ling & Ors v Director of Immigration [1999] 1 HKLRD 315.