The China National Tourism Administration stated that travel agencies which organize overseas trips and group guides who purchase fake admission tickets will face tougher penalties. The new, stricter penalties have been introduced after a recent incident, where a group of Chinese tourists made an attempt to use fake tickets in order to visit the Louvre Museum in Paris.
Tourism agencies and overseers have been provided with a notice, which was issued on September 18, 2013 and it was demanded by the China National Tourism Administration (NTA) that they tighten management of tour groups. Tourism agencies have also been warned that such cases need to be prevented from happening ever again.
This will also guarantee the legal rights and interests of tourists from China and protect the image of the China’s tourism industry. NTA said that the number of Chinese outbound tourists has doubled since 2007, to nearly 83.2 million in 2012. Agencies are being asked to purchase tickets via authentic channels and the notification also promised to impose tougher penalties on agencies which continued to buy fake tickets.
The incident involving fake tickets caused a heavy criticism on Weibo, while many internet users called the incident shameful and damaging to the image of Chinese people.
Photo Credits: China Travel Depot
