Tourism blacklist extended to cover service providers

A tourism blacklist set up to tackle misbehavior among Chinese tourists will be extended to cover travel agencies and their employees, according to the China National Tourism Administration.

The administration started a campaign last year to expose the behavior of certain tourists who were "humiliating" the country, it said.

Behaviors such as violating order on public transportation, damaging public facilities or historical relics, ignoring social customs at tourism destinations and becoming involved with gambling or prostitution can see a tourist blacklisted.

If children are involved in these behaviors without proper adult supervision, then their guardians will be listed on the record.

A draft regulation released on Thursday also states that if travel service providers "abuse, beat, cheat and threat" tourists and cause a negative impact on society, they will also be put on the blacklist.

Service providers are already forbidden from showing disrespect for local customs and religious beliefs or dispersing vulgar and superstitious information among tourists.

According to the administration, an evaluation committee composed of government agencies, law experts, travel agencies and tourist representatives will decide whether a behavior should be recorded on the blacklist, how long the record should be exposed to the public, and whether the record shall be submitted to other government agencies or institutions.