Interpretation of Hubei Tourism Regulations

On April 1 day, the 14th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 12th Provincial People's Congress passed the newly revised Tourism Regulations of Hubei Province (hereinafter referred to as the Tourism Regulations). The Tourism Regulations closely follow the reality of tourism development in our province, focus on protecting the legitimate rights and interests of tourists, persist in deepening reform, promote tourism according to law, and comprehensively promote the development pattern of government supervision according to law, law-abiding enterprises and civilized tourism for tourists, which will enhance the government's ability to coordinate tourism development, promote the combination of tourism resources protection and utilization, improve tourism management and service level, and promote the healthy development of tourism in the new historical period.

First, innovate the concept of development and make clear the overall pattern of tourism development.

Tourism is an important part of modern service industry and one of strategic industries, which plays an irreplaceable role in social and economic development. At present, China is in the period of industrialization, urbanization and agricultural modernization, and the increasingly popular and diversified consumer demand provides new impetus and opportunities for the development of tourism. At the same time, the rapid development of tourism has also intensified many contradictions between the finiteness of tourism resources and the universality of tourism development, between the invariance of tourism resources and the variability of tourists' needs, between the concentration of tourism activities and the frequent opening of scenic spots, between the development and protection of tourism resources, and between the lag of tourism management system and the rapid development of tourism. Therefore, the newly revised Tourism Regulations clearly establish a scientific tourism concept, and the development of tourism should adhere to the unity of one premise and three benefits, that is, the development of tourism should effectively protect tourism resources, highlight local characteristics, carry forward local culture, adhere to government guidance, social participation, market operation, unified planning, rational utilization and scientific management, and realize the unity of ecological benefits, social benefits and economic benefits.

Second, strengthen the overall coordination of the government and promote the integrated development of tourism.

Compared with other industries and industries, tourism has its uniqueness, but also highlights its comprehensiveness. In addition to the tourism department, there are many other departments whose functions involve the management of tourism resources, the flow of tourists, the operation and promotion of tourism to varying degrees. Facing the contradiction between the comprehensiveness of tourism and the divisiveness of departmental management, it can only be solved through the overall coordination of the government.

The newly revised Tourism Regulations clearly stipulate that the government should establish and improve the comprehensive coordination system and mechanism of tourism, adhere to integrated development, and strengthen the organization and leadership of tourism development. At the same time, put forward several requirements:

The first is the overall coordination at the policy level. Tourism is demand-oriented, and promoting the development of tourism can not be separated from the corresponding policy support. In reality, the policy resources of the tourism sector are limited, and many policies do not match the needs of tourism development. Therefore, it is necessary for the government to promote relevant departments to improve and adjust existing policies and regulations under the framework of comprehensive coordination mechanism. The Tourism Regulations stipulate that the government should promote the combination of tourism development with new industrialization, informationization, urbanization and agricultural modernization, improve policies and measures to promote tourism development, and strengthen the integration of tourism with culture, industry, agriculture, health, sports, science and education and other fields.

The second is overall coordination at the planning level. As a comprehensive industry and career development plan, tourism planning is bound to overlap with construction, land and other related plans. Without a high-level overall coordination mechanism to solve the connection between tourism development planning and related planning, it is inevitable that departments will "go their own way", and it is difficult to complete cross-regional tourism projects only by tourism departments. The overall coordination of the government is the key to solve the problem. The Tourism Regulations stipulate that the people's governments at or above the county level shall incorporate the development of tourism into the national economic and social development plan, organize the preparation of the tourism development plan, and make overall arrangements for the protection of tourism resources, the construction of tourism infrastructure and public service facilities within their respective administrative areas. When using tourism resources that are suitable for overall utilization across administrative regions, the people's government at the next higher level shall organize the preparation of a unified tourism development plan or consult with the relevant people's governments to coordinate and solve major problems in the implementation of tourism planning. At the same time, the formulation of tourism development planning should be connected with the overall land use planning, urban and rural planning, environmental protection planning and other human resources protection and utilization planning.

The third is the overall coordination of tourism services and facilities. Public service is a product and service that can't completely rely on the market under the background of market economy, and it is related to the interests of most people. To achieve the sustainable and healthy development of tourist destinations, it is inseparable from the government's investment in tourist facilities and services. The Tourism Regulations put forward a series of requirements for governments at all levels to strengthen tourism public services, and made it clear that the government should allocate funds in the financial budget for tourism infrastructure construction, resource protection, public services and tourism image promotion according to the development of local tourism. In terms of tourism safety, the government is in charge of tourism safety, incorporating tourism emergency management into the government emergency management system, releasing tourism safety early warning information in time, and handling tourism emergencies. At the same time, promote more public resources to be opened to tourists free of charge or preferential treatment, such as stipulating that scenic spots, scenic spots tickets and traffic facilities in scenic spots should be charged separately, and government pricing or government guidance prices should be implemented; If the project investment cost collected separately has been recovered, the price shall be reduced or the fees shall be cancelled accordingly. Public welfare museums, libraries, city parks, etc. They are all open to the public free of charge, which better reflects the publicity.

Three, adhere to the people-oriented, and strive to protect the legitimate rights and interests of tourists.

In many western developed countries, it is a common social knowledge to protect citizens' leisure and tourism rights. Leisure and tourism are not only regarded as the welfare of citizens, but also the rights of citizens. With the economic and social development of China, tourism is becoming an increasingly important way of life for China citizens. Tourism is not only a process of consumption, but also a process of improving physical quality and cultural quality. Therefore, from the perspective of satisfying rights, citizens' tourism behavior not only needs to be satisfied in economic activities with market players, but also needs to provide convenience and guarantee for citizens' travel through the government's performance of relevant duties.

The newly revised Tourism Regulations take the protection of citizens' tourism and leisure rights as an important content, including the right of tourists to choose their own tourism products and services, the right to know the real situation of the purchased products and services, the right to require tour operators to provide products and services with the same quality and price as agreed, the right to respect personal dignity, national customs and religious beliefs, the right to request assistance and protection when personal and property safety is threatened, and the right to receive compensation according to law. All these are often involved by tourists in their travel activities. The Tourism Regulations also adhere to the people-oriented principle and create a good tourism environment for tourists from the system design. For example, the government and its relevant departments are required to formulate policies and measures to promote institutions, enterprises, institutions and social organizations to implement the paid annual leave system for employees to ensure citizens' travel and leisure time; Require scenic spots to be open to the elderly, disabled people, active servicemen, children, students and other specific objects free of charge or preferential treatment in accordance with national and provincial regulations; Encourage travel agencies to launch affordable tourism products and services according to the tourism needs of the elderly and the disabled and the healthy growth of minors, so that every citizen can better exercise their tourism rights.

Fourth, pay attention to the protection of tourism resources and realize sustainable development.

As one of the elements of tourism activities, tourism resources are the premise and foundation for the survival and development of tourism. The type, quantity, scale, characteristics and protection level of tourism resources largely determine the overall level of tourism development in a country or region. However, in the development process, due to the lack of norms, tourism resources are often affected and destroyed to varying degrees, which seriously even weakens the "reusability" of tourism resources. At the same time, the development of tourism resources also involves the protection of the surrounding environment. Therefore, strengthening the protection and management of tourism resources and surrounding ecological environment is the fundamental guarantee for the sustainable development of tourism.

To this end, the Tourism Regulations set up a special chapter to strengthen the protection of tourism resources, stipulating that the development and utilization of tourism resources and the construction of projects that have an impact on tourism resources should strictly implement tourism development plans and special plans, conduct environmental impact assessments according to law, and formulate plans for the development, protection and restoration of tourism resources to achieve sustainable development. Tourism projects developed by using natural resources should strengthen the protection of natural resources and biodiversity, and must not destroy ecology or pollute the environment; Tourism projects that utilize national cultural resources, historical buildings and historical and cultural resources shall maintain their national characteristics, traditional patterns and historical features, and shall not be rebuilt, moved or demolished without authorization. At the same time, the tourism regulations attach importance to strengthening publicity and education on ecological protection, requiring the government and its relevant departments and news media to carry out publicity and education on tourism ecological civilization, and guide tourists, tour operators and their employees and residents in tourist areas to enhance their awareness of protecting the ecological environment; Tourism operators and their employees should publicize the knowledge of tourism ecological environment protection to tourists in tourism business activities and discourage acts that destroy the ecological environment.

Five, standardize the tourism business behavior, improve the service level of tourism.

Tourism activities involve six links: travel, accommodation, shopping and entertainment. On the basis of the existing provisions of laws and regulations such as the superior law, the Tourism Regulations further standardize the tourism management behavior of relevant links in view of the new situations and new problems in the development of tourism.

In terms of "travel", it is stipulated that the competent transportation department should bring tourism traffic into the public transportation system and arrange tourism traffic routes reasonably. Tourism operators to carry out tourism activities and rent passenger vehicles and boats should choose transportation enterprises with corresponding qualifications and vehicles and boats with compulsory insurance according to law. At the same time, vehicles and ships undertaking tourism transportation shall be equipped with drivers, crew members and safety facilities and equipment that meet the requirements, and shall not exceed the approved number of passengers to ensure the safety of tourists.

In the "tour" link, a series of regulations have been made on the management of scenic spots, mainly involving the opening of scenic spots, ticket prices, maximum carrying capacity and so on. It is stipulated that scenic spots should promote standardization construction, strictly implement barrier-free environment construction standards, improve barrier-free information services, and appropriately equip the elderly, disabled and other travel AIDS. The scenic spot fare should be reasonable and stable according to its scale and grade. When formulating or adjusting scenic spot fares, the competent price department shall solicit the opinions of the competent tourism department at the same level, listen to the opinions of relevant social parties, and hold a hearing in accordance with the provisions. At the same time, the scenic spot is required to formulate a tourist flow control plan, and announce the real-time flow and maximum carrying capacity of the scenic spot through the tourism public service information platform, tourist service center and scenic spot entrance in the peak season to control the maximum carrying capacity of tourists in the scenic spot.

In the "purchase" link, the tourism regulations stipulate that it is necessary to standardize the tourism shopping market, promote the construction of characteristic commodity shopping areas, increase the development of tourism commodities, support the development of tourism commodities with local, ethnic and scenic features, and promote the industrialization of tourism commodities. In view of the current behavior of using the network to operate tourism, the Tourism Regulations also particularly emphasize that online tourism operators should disclose business licenses, licenses, payment methods, risk warnings and other information in a prominent position on the homepage of their websites in accordance with regulations, and take security measures to ensure the safety and reliability of transactions; Where services are actually provided by other operators, service providers shall be selected from tourism operators with legal qualifications, and information such as the operator's name, business address and contact information shall be provided to tourists.

In addition, in order to improve the quality of tourism services and strengthen the construction of market integrity, the Tourism Regulations also focus on improving the quality of tourism services in our province by means of tourism standardization construction and strengthening industry self-discipline, stipulating that "the provincial people's government should establish and improve the operation mechanism of tourism standardization" and "the tourism authorities should establish and improve the management system of tourism standardization, carry out publicity and training on tourism standardization, and promote the implementation of national, industrial and local standards for tourism." At the same time, the government is required to establish an information disclosure system for the qualifications, grades and disciplinary records of tourism enterprises, publish a list of serious illegal enterprises and employees, and protect tourists' right to know. Support all kinds of tourism industry associations to evaluate the integrity of their member enterprises, establish industry integrity files and industry integrity self-discipline rules, and create an honest, civilized and orderly tourism environment.