New regulation to ensure Chinese tourists behave well

For years, the majority of the public could only watch or read news about Chinese tourists’ uncivil behaviours, especially while travelling abroad and only feel ashamed. But the regulation issued recently by the National Tourism Administration could help cure the malaise that afflicts some Chinese tourists.

According to the regulation, uncivilised behavior by tourists such as violating order in public transport vehicles, damaging public property or historical relics, ignoring social customs at tourism sites, and being involved in gambling or prostitution could all be put on record – to be kept by provincial and national tourism authorities for up to two years.

Since the existing Tourism Law has no specific clause saying tourists should be held legally accountable for their uncivilised behaviors, uncivil acts such as spitting, littering or vandalising historical relics (by, say, scratching one’s name), Chinese tourists could not be pulled up for their shameful actions, which not only caused damage to the tourist spots but also ruined the image of the Chinese people and their country.

The new regulation has more or less plugged these legal loopholes and has certain binding forces on tourists who are prone to uncivil behaviour. It is also necessary to draw the red line to prevent the tourists in grey areas from being included into the bad books. Also, tourists should have the right to defend themselves to prevent abuse of power by the authorities.

Yet it is equally important to take precautionary measures to prevent such uncivil behaviours, rather than wait until someone breaks some rules and then punish him/her.

Some uncivil behaviours observed among tourists can be attributed to poor moral quality and habits while others could just be careless mistakes because of lack of knowledge of local customs or communication. After all, those who intentionally show off money and make a scene comprise a fraction of the total number of Chinese tourists.

It is for sure that most of the Chinese tourists are aware of international rules, such as to maintain silence in museums and galleries and not to litter public places. Yet, at times, some Chinese tourists tend to overlook these conventions because they are not used to such civil and eco-friendly behaviours in their everyday lives. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen moral education and cultivate good habits among children both at school and home so that they develop into model citizens, and educate the adults through advertisements and other means to cultivate civil manners.

Besides, being different from backpackers who, because they travel independently, take the initiative of seeking information about their destinations before actually visiting them to ensure they don’t violate local customs and etiquette, and to be wary of taboos, members of package tours groups almost always ignore this necessary part and depend on their tour guides for everything. If travel agencies and managers of tourist spots could provide adequate training for their guides, and the latter could inform the tourists in advance, much of the embarrassment could be avoided.