Tourism Law of the People's Republic of China
Tourism Law of the People's Republic of China
Tourism Law of the People's Republic of China
Order of the President of the People's Republic of China No. 3
April 25, 2013
The Tourism Law of the People's Republic of China has been adopted at the 2nd session of the standing committee of the 12th National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on April 25, 2013, which is hereby promulgated and shall come into effect on October 1, 2013.
President of the People's Republic of China: Xi Jinping
Tourism Law of the People's Republic of China
(Adopted at the 2nd session of the standing committee of the 12th National People's Congress on April 25, 2013)
Contents
Chapter I General Provisions
Chapter II Tourist
Chapter III Tourism Planning and Promotion
Chapter IV Tourism Operation
Chapter V Tourism Service Contract
Chapter VI Tourism Safety
Chapter VII Tourism Supervision and Administration
Chapter VIII Tourism Dispute Handling
Chapter IX Legal Liabilities
Chapter X Supplementary Provisions
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1 This Law is formulated for the purposes of safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of the tourists and tourism operators, regulating the tourism market order and protecting and reasonably leveraging the tourism resources, and promoting the sustainable and healthy development of the tourism industry.
Article 2 This Law is to be applicable to tour, vacation, leisure and other forms of tourism activities within the territory of the People's Republic of China or those overseas but organized in the territory of People's Republic of China, and business activities that provide relevant services for tourism activities.
Article 3 The State shall develop tourism industries, improve public services for tourism and legally protect the rights of the tourists in the tourism activities.
Article 4 The development of tourism industry shall follow the principle of coordination among social effects, economic effects and ecological effects. All types of market entities are encouraged by the State to legally and reasonably leverage tourism resources on the precondition of effectively protecting these resources. The tour place established with public resources shall reflect its public welfare.
Article 5 The State advocates healthy, civilized and environmentally friendly tourism, supports and encourages all types of social institutions to carry out public welfare publicity about tourism, and rewards entities and individuals with outstanding contribution in promoting the development of the tourism industry.
Article 6 The State shall establish and improve the standards and market rules for tourism services, and prohibit industry monopoly and regional monopoly. The tourism operators shall provide safe, healthy, hygienic and convenient tourism services to the tourists through honest management, fair competition and the undertaking of social responsibilities.
Article 7 The State Council shall establish and improve the comprehensive tourism coordination mechanism to comprehensively coordinate the development of the tourism industry.
The local people's governments at the county level or above shall strengthen the organization and leadership for tourism work, define the roles of relevant departments or institutions, and carry out comprehensive coordination of the development, supervision and administration of the tourism industry within their administrative areas.
Article 8 Tourism industry organizations that are legally established shall carry out self-disciplined management.
Chapter II Tourist
Article 9 Tourists shall have the right to choose tourism products and services on their own, and may refuse compulsory transaction activities from tourism operators.
Tourists shall have the right to know the actual circumstances of the tourism products and services they purchase.
Tourists shall have the right to demand tourism operators to provide products and services as agreed.
Article 10 Full respects shall be given to person dignity, ethnic customs and practices and religious belief of tourists.
Article 11 Tourists that are Handicapped, elderly and minors shall enjoy convenience and privileges in tourism activities in accordance with laws, regulations and relevant rules.
Article 12 Tourists shall have the right to request for assistance and protection in cases where their personal safety or the safety of their property is threatened.
In case of any infringement upon their bodies or properties, the tourists shall have the right to obtain indemnity according to law.
Article 13 Tourists shall, in tourism activities, comply with social public order and social morality, respect local customs, cultural traditions and religious beliefs, care for tourism resources, protect the ecological environment and abide by the norms of civilized tourism activities.
Article 14 During tourism activities or when resolving disputes, tourists are prohibited from jeopardizing the legitimate rights and interests of local residents, interfering with the tourism activities of others, or damaging the legitimate rights and interests of tourism operators and tourism practitioners.
Article 15 When purchasing or accepting tourism services, tourists shall truthfully notify the tourism operators of information on their personal health in connection with the tourism activities, and comply with the requirements of safety warnings of the tourism activities.
Tourists shall cooperate with temporary measures for restriction of tourism activities imposed by the State for any significant emergency event, and safety protection and emergency response measures taken by relevant departments, institutions or tourism operators.
Tourists shall assume the corresponding responsibilities in the event they violate the safety warning rules, or refuse to cooperate with the temporary measures on restriction of tourism activities imposed by the State for any significant emergency event or the safety protection and emergency response measures.
Article 16 Outbound tourists are prohibited to illegally overstay, and outbound tourists in overseas package tours shall not be divided into sub-groups or leave the groups without approval.
Inbound tourists are prohibited to illegally overstay within the territory of the People's Republic of China, and inbound tourists in inbound package tours shall not be divided into sub-groups or leave the groups without approval.
Chapter III Planning and Promotion of Tourism
Article 17 The State Council and local people's governments at the county level or above shall include the tourism industry development into the planning of national economy and social development.
The State Council, provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under central government, and the people's governments of cities divided into districts and counties with rich tourism resources shall organize the preparation of tourism development planning in accordance with the requirements of national economy and social development planning. For integrated utilization of the tourism resources across different administrative areas, the preparation of tourism development plan shall attribute to the people's government at higher level or the relevant local people's governments by negotiation.
Article 18 The tourism development plan shall cover the overall requirements and development targets of the tourism industry development, requirements and measures for protection and utilization of tourism resources, and requirements and promotion measures for tourism products development, quality improvement of tourism services, tourism culture development, tourism image promotion, tourism infrastructures and public service facilities.
Pursuant to the tourism development plan, local people's governments at county level or above may prepare the special plans for the development and utilization of key tourism resources, and put forward special requirements for tourism projects, facilities and supports to services within special regions.
Article 19 The tourism development plan shall link up with the overall plan for land utilization, urban and rural plans, environmental protection plan and protection and utilization plans of other natural resources and humanistic resources such as cultural relics.
Article 20 When preparing the overall plan for land utilization and urban and rural plans, the people's governments at all levels shall take into account of the space layout and land construction of tourism projects and facilities. The development of tourism industry shall be considered in the planning and construction of infrastructures and public service facilities such as transportation, communication, water and electricity supply and environmental protection.
Article 21 In case of utilization of natural resources, cultural relics and other cultural resources in tourism, it is required to strictly follow the provisions of relevant laws and regulations, meet the requirements for resources and ecological protection and cultural relics safety, respect and maintain local traditional cultures and customs, protect the regional integrity, cultural representativeness and geographical specificity of resources, and take into account of protection of military facilities. The relevant competent departments shall strengthen resources protection and supervision and examination over the tourism utilization status.
Article 22 The people's governments at all levels shall organize the evaluation on implementation of respective tourism development plan and release evaluation results to the public.
Article 23 The State Council and local people's governments at the county level or above shall formulate and implement industrial policies favorable to the sustainable and sound development of the tourism industry, boost the tourism and leisure system construction, take measures to advance regional tourism cooperation, encourage the development of trans-regional tourism lines and products, promote the integration of tourism with industry, agriculture, commerce, culture, hygiene, sports, science and education and other fields, and support tourism development in ethnic minority areas, old revolutionary base areas, remote areas and poverty-stricken areas.
Article 24 The State Council and local people's governments at county level or above shall arrange funds and strengthen construction for tourism infrastructure, tourism public services and tourism image promotion, pursuant to the actual situation.
Article 25 The State shall formulate and implement tourism image promotion strategy.
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