Is it legal for Lijiang to collect maintenance fees for the ancient city?

On February 2, Zheng, the "fairy tale king", published a long microblog, questioning the maintenance fee charged by Lijiang, Yunnan. On the evening of February 4th, Zheng Yi, the mayor of Lijiang, wrote back to Zheng, saying that the collection of "ancient city maintenance fee" was approved by the Yunnan provincial government and collected by administrative means, but Zheng questioned the collection of maintenance fee. Experts pointed out that the ancient city, as a world cultural heritage, should be regarded as a quasi-public product, and it is illegal to collect it from tour operators or tourists in disguise because of local financial difficulties.

Introduction to the Regulations: Yang, former president and professor of beijing international studies university Law and Politics College, president of the Tourism Law Research Association of Beijing Law Society and editor-in-chief of Interpretation of the Tourism Law of the People's Republic of China, told the reporter of China Youth Network that there is no explicit prohibition on the collection of maintenance fees for the ancient city. In the name of administrative expenses, Lijiang has a legal basis for collecting maintenance fees with the approval of the relevant departments of the provincial government. "However, the problem is that this is a disguised ticket collection, which seems illegal." Yang said, first, it violated the basic provisions of Article 35 of the Tourism Law; Second, it violates the provisions of Article 9 and Article 10 of the Consumer Protection Law (hereinafter referred to as the Consumer Protection Law); Third, it violates the provisions of Article 12 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law.

Specifically, first of all, according to the basic spirit of Article 35 of the Tourism Law and the relevant provisions of the Travel Agency Regulations, the state prohibits tourism operators from forcing tourists to participate in tourism projects that are paid separately by coercion or disguised coercion. Lijiang charges all visitors to Lijiang the maintenance fee for the ancient city of 80 yuan. Obviously, without the consent of tourists, tourists did not voluntarily donate the maintenance fee of the ancient city. Therefore, in terms of charging form, it is forced or disguised to force tourists to spend.

Secondly, Lijiang's collection of maintenance fees for the ancient city is suspected of violating Article 9 "Independent Choice Right" and Article 10 "Fair Trading Right" of the Consumer Law. Some tours in Lijiang are bundled consumption. If tourists only want to visit Yulong Snow Mountain and don't want to visit the ancient city, they also need to pay the maintenance fee of the ancient city. Nowadays, many "ancient cities" are not real ancient cities, most of them are rebuilt, and many tourists are reluctant to visit them. Obviously, these bundled consumption infringes on the legitimate rights and interests of these tourists and deprives them of their right to choose independently and trade fairly.

Finally, Lijiang's collection of maintenance fees for the ancient city is suspected of violating the provisions of Article 12 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law. Article 12 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law stipulates that "when selling goods, business operators shall not tie in the goods against the buyers' wishes or attach other unreasonable conditions. "The Lijiang municipal government charges the maintenance fee of the ancient city, which is actually competing with the people. For tourists, the maintenance fee of the ancient city is compulsory consumption; For tour operators, the behavior of charging the maintenance fee of the ancient city has affected their operation and income. The fact that merchants closed their doors to protest against the government's collection of maintenance fees for the ancient city has already illustrated this problem.