Authorities are considering policies to deny overseas-travel applications from Chinese tourists who act 'embarrassingly' abroad. Yang Feiyue reports.

Simply saying "tsk-tsk" seems insufficient. So authorities are considering grounding outbound Chinese travelers who do the travel don'ts. The hope is poo-pooing future trips by tourists who've committed no-nos overseas will encourage them to act maturely.

Shanghai, for one, plans to legislate punitive measures to curb "childish behaviors" by local tourists when they travel outside the country.

The metropolis' government officials say the city will this year consider blacklisting tourists found to conduct themselves "shamefully" abroad.

Authorities may deny offenders' subsequent overseas-travel applications if they want to join overseas tour groups in the future, the Shanghai Morning Post reported on Feb 12.

The rules proposed by the city - one of the country's major middle-class bastions - are some of the country's strictest and point to the likely intensification of measures Chinese authorities may adopt to fight outbound travelers' negative image.

Shanghai's announcement came after Jiangsu province officially blacklisted four travelers because they caused chaos on a Thai AirAsia budget flight from Bangkok to Jiangsu's capital, Nanjing.

After a passenger scalded a flight attendant with hot water, another threatened to blow up the plane while a third threatened to commit suicide by jumping out of the emergency door, while banging on the windows, media report.

Ultimately, the flight had to return to Bangkok.

But questions surround how this blacklisting will deter other Chinese tourists from behaving "badly".

China's breakneck economic growth has made the country the biggest source of outbound tourists. But it has also produced a noveau-riche mentality that manifests as behavior atrocious enough to grab global headlines. This has been so frequent that it gives outbound tourists a degree of notoriety.

More than 100 million mainlanders traveled abroad in the first 10 months of last year, compared with 8.4 million in 1998. A third of outbound Chinese tourists go for sightseeing. Others make trips for such reasons as shopping.

Education is the culprit, domestic think tank National Public Opinion Poll's chief analyst Liu Zhiming says.

"Chinese have been taught obedience to parents and authority. So they may go wild in foreign environments if unsupervised."

Chinese tourist etiquette is underdeveloped, he says. And this may become more apparent in foreign cultures.

Most other countries' globetrotters are middle class with some understanding of different cultures, Liu says.

Liu believes instances of uncivilized behavior should be publicized to remind Chinese they represent their homeland's image overseas and face serious consequences if they act disgracefully.

The National Tourism Administration last year announced plans to develop a system that tracks Chinese tourists' bad behaviors and shares data with airlines, hotels and travel agencies. Offenders may experience difficulties booking flights or accommodations.

The administration will carry out inspections of tour-guide training and actions, and provide guidelines for travelers, especially those who visit neighbors like Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea, the administration's supervision and management division head Peng Zhikai says.

"Those who cause disruptions will be held accountable by law," he says.

The Guangzhou Daily named outbound Chinese tourists' Top 10 bad behaviors on Feb 4.

Displaying a nouveau riche mentality topped the list.

Such travelers spend easily but are hard to please.

They expect service providers to be at their beck and call, quickly lose their temper and try to throw their weight around, the report says.

The list also names speaking loudly in public, snapping photos of strangers without consent and littering at scenic spots.

The report argues cultural misunderstandings are the problems' primary source.

Chinese people are accustomed to noisy environments and talking at high volumes, Guangdong-based Nanhu Travel tour guide Tan Chunyong says. Tan's elderly guests from Guangdong's provincial capital Guangzhou would leave their hotel-room doors open to talk across the halls in Europe. This disturbed other guests and created conflict.

The report points out that speaking loudly is particularly upsetting on Japan's subways, since Japanese venerate quietness in public.

And a lack of understanding about privacy means some Chinese snap photos of foreign children - often to their parents' irritation - or nude beachgoers.

Some try to get away with violating customs laws, believing they can beat the system.

But advanced detection equipment makes this difficult, the report says.

Zimbabwe's Harare International Airport detected three cases of attempted ivory smuggling by Chinese from Jan 14-19, Peking University researcher Shen Xiaolei says.

Less serious are reports from foreign guides that Chinese sometimes request discounts and freebies when shopping.

But the report's good news is that Chinese tourists are increasingly aware of etiquette and knowledgeable about foreign cultures - ultimately meaning they're behaving better.

In other words, the blacklist may prove a short list.

Contact the writer at yangfeiyue@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 02/16/2015 page24)