Chinese lawmakers hear report on enforcement of tourism law

Statistics show 2.73 billion domestic journeys were made in China during the first three quarters this year, a 10.8 percent increase over the same period of previous year. Outbound trips rose 16.7 percent to 85.44 million in the first three quarters and tourism revenue increased by 14.9 percent to 2.46 trillion yuan (about $400 billion).

The report said local tourism departments carried out more than 15,000 inspections, examined about 60,000 tourism companies and completed 40,000 tour guide inspections.

Despite progress, problems still remain. Existing regulations have certain provisions which are not in line with the current law and have yet to be revised. Some of the more prominent issues, such as illegal business operation and market monopolies, have not been cleared up and attention paid to the protection of tourist resources was far from enough, said the report.

Suggestions were made on law popularization, regulation improvement, strengthening law enforcement and improving public service.

The NPC Standing Committee dispatched three inspection teams to the provinces of Zhejiang, Hainan, Sichuan, Shaanxi and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, while the situation in another eight provincial-level regions including Beijing were reviewed by local people's congress committees.