From what aspects does the new tourism law guarantee and promote the construction of civilized tourism?

The Tourism Law has made clear provisions on further strengthening the protection of tourists' rights and interests, strictly controlling the increase of ticket prices in scenic spots, increasing the control of "zero-negative tour fees", further standardizing the behavior of tour guides and tour leaders, strengthening industry self-discipline and improving measures to promote tourism development. Tourism Law is a long-overdue but widely accepted law, which will play an active and important role in defining the government's public service function, protecting the legitimate rights and interests of tourists and tourism enterprises, further standardizing the tourism market and ensuring the sustainable and healthy development of China's tourism industry. Now, as an industry representative, I have been invited to participate in the relevant seminars, consultation meetings and review meetings of the NPC Law Committee and the National Tourism Administration on the legislation of the Tourism Law for many times, and participated in the relevant work in the drafting process of the Tourism Law. According to my understanding of the Tourism Law, I will make some analysis on the highlights and impacts of the law for reference only.

First, the main highlights of the Tourism Law and its beneficial impact on travel agencies

(A) clear the government's public service function.

Article 3 of the Tourism Law stipulates that the government protects the rights of tourists in tourism activities according to law; Article 26 stipulates that the government should establish a tourism information platform to provide tourists with necessary scenic spots, routes, transportation, meteorology, accommodation and other information and services free of charge. Travel agencies can obtain the above information quickly and conveniently, which is conducive to combating zero-negative group fees.

(2) It is clear that the government should promote the construction of tourism and leisure system.

This provision in Article 23 of the Tourism Law guarantees the right of China citizens to travel and vacation, and provides legal support for travel agencies to develop and plan leisure travel and vacation products and formulate the product standards of leisure vacation routes.

(3) Make clear the rights, obligations and responsibilities of tourists.

① It is clear that tourists have the obligation to "abide by the code of conduct of tourism civilization", the right and obligation to rationally safeguard their rights according to law, and the right to seek help in distress. Article 14 of the Tourism Law clearly stipulates that tourists shall not harm the legitimate rights and interests of local residents, interfere with other people's tourism activities, or harm the legitimate rights and interests of tourism operators and tourism professionals in their tourism activities or in resolving disputes; Otherwise, it shall be liable for compensation in accordance with the provisions of Article 72. This clause will have a certain inhibitory effect on "noisy and excellent" tourists.

(2) Article 16 clarifies the obligation of outbound tourists not to join or leave the tour group without authorization, and the obligation of tourists to cooperate with emergency measures, which provides a basis for tour guides to take emergency measures.

(3) The tourists' right to claim compensation from the performance assistant in the place where the incident occurred was clarified. Article 70, paragraph 2, stipulates that tourists may ask the land agency and the performance assisting agent to bear the liability for compensation, or they may ask the package agency to bear the liability for compensation. This provision provides a basis for tour guides to immediately negotiate with the responsible person at the scene of the incident to protect the rights and interests of tourists, establish a multi-party litigation system, and quickly resolve tourism disputes.

This will enable tourists to clearly understand their own consumption and effectively supervise the travel agency's itinerary implementation.

(4) Clarify the principle of handling the inevitable events when the tour group encounters force majeure and the tour operators have fulfilled their duty of reasonable care.

According to the provisions of Article 67 of the Tourism Law, although tour operators have the obligation of reasonable care, events that cannot be avoided should be regarded as force majeure. This article defines the expenses in three cases: termination of contract, emergency avoidance and detention (i.e. the expenses paid by tourists are paid by both parties, and the tourists take care of themselves, but the return expenses are shared), which is conducive to handling accidents quickly and reducing losses. The initial establishment of the fault liability or presumed fault mechanism of travel agencies has effectively limited the responsibility of travel agencies and safeguarded the legitimate rights and interests of both tourists and tour operators.

(5) Clarify the obligation of travel agencies to assist in claiming compensation when tourists are damaged due to the reasons of public transport operators.

Paragraph 2 of Article 7 1 stipulates that if a public transport operator causes personal injury or property loss to a tourist, the public transport operator shall be liable for compensation according to law, and the travel agency shall assist the tourist to recover from the public transport operator, which fairly defines the responsibility of the travel agency. Therefore, under the above circumstances, travel agencies and their tour guides should actively assist tourists to claim compensation from public transport operators.

(6) Clarify the legality of rural tourism.

Article 46 stipulates that urban and rural residents use their own houses or other conditions to engage in tourism business according to law, and their management measures shall be formulated by provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government. It provides a legal basis for the development of rural tourism and the legality of arranging homestays. Although it is legal to arrange homestays, monitoring and management should be strengthened for safety reasons.

(seven) to establish a pre-litigation mediation mechanism for tourism disputes.

The Tourism Law has added provisions for both parties to apply for mediation by "mediation organizations". This kind of mediation can be linked to the new civil procedure law, and the mediation result has been confirmed by the court and is legally binding. The establishment of mediation organization, because of its status and nature independent of tourism administrative departments and tourism operators, provides a convenient place for tourists to express their opinions, which is conducive to quickly handling tourism disputes and maintaining harmony and stability.

(8) Flexible handling of social tour guides employed by travel agencies.

Paragraph 2 of Article 38 stipulates that if a travel agency temporarily hires a tour guide to provide services for tourists, it shall pay the tour guide the tour guide service fee stipulated in paragraph 3 of Article 60 of this Law in full. Solved the dilemma of social part-time tour guides signing labor contracts; According to the regulations, only the service fee due to social tour guides needs to be paid in full.

(9) Flexible provisions are made for tourists' right to know the consent of the land agency.

Although Article 69 still stipulates that the reception of tour groups by ground agencies must be approved by tourists, and according to the provisions of Article 60, the basic information of ground agencies must be stated in the travel contract, according to the expression of intention in the second paragraph of Article 69 and the provisions of Article 59, the package tour agency only needs to promise to deliver the reception to qualified ground agencies in the main contract when signing the travel contract, and then give the details of the ground agencies in the "Tourism travel itinerary" issued before departure. Effectively corrected Article 36 of the Travel Agency Regulations.