Announcement of the Standing Committee of Shanghai

Municipal People’s Congress

No. 15

The Decision of the Standing Committee of Shanghai Municipal People’s Government on the Amendment of the Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on Tourism has been adopted at the 14^th Session of the Standing Committee of the 13^th Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress on October 22, 2009, and is hereby promulgated. It shall be effective as of December 1, 2009.

                  The Standing Committee of Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress

October 22, 2009

Decision of the Standing Committee of Shanghai Municipal People’s

Congress on the Amendment of the Regulations of

Shanghai Municipality on Tourism

(Adopted at the 14^th Session of the Standing Committee of the 13^th

Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress on October 22, 2009)

The 14^th Session of the Standing Committee of the 13^th Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress has deliberated the Amendment on the Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on Tourism (Draft) submitted by the Municipal People’s Government, and has decided to make the following amendments to the Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on Tourism:

1. Article 12 is amended to: “The municipal tourism administrative department shall, jointly with relevant administrative departments, draw up plans for publicity on this Municipality’s tourism image, set up tourism publicity outlets at home and abroad, and through various channels and forms like mass media, domestic and international cooperation and exchanges, etc., strengthen the publicity of this Municipality’s city image, main tourist attractions (sights), important festivals, sport events, conferences and exhibitions, and such other activities.”

A clause is added as Clause 2 thereof: “This Municipality encourages units and individual persons to exploit tourism products by combining local specialties and cultural features. The tourism administrative department shall, according to the specialties of the local tourist resources and advantages of tourism products, determine the overall tourism image and the main themes of the publicity and recommendation, support the exploitation of tourism products, and promote the opening up of the tourism market.”

2. An article is added as Article 15: “The municipal tourism administrative department shall, jointly with the public security, and construction and communications administrative departments, rationally set up or arrange temporary parking lots for tourist vehicles at public transportation hubs like airports, railway stations, docks, etc., and main tourist attractions (sights).

The municipal tourism administrative department shall, jointly with the public security, and construction and communications administrative departments, according to the State’s and this Municipality’s relevant provisions, set up guiding signs for main tourist attractions (sights) and public transportation hubs on superhighways and urban roads.”

3. An article is added as Article 18: “The municipal and district/county people’s governments shall establish a joint-action mechanism for tourist safety, and organize relevant administrative departments to prepare emergency response planning, carry out emergency response drills and promptly handle emergent tourist cases.

The tourism administrative department and the relevant administrative departments shall, according to their respective functions and duties, strengthen the supervision and inspection on tourist safety, conduct safety check on such occasions as important festivals, sport events, conferences and exhibitions, and such other activities.”

4. An article is added as Article 21: “This Municipality promotes the opening up of cruise tourism, and encourages tourism operators to exploit products of cruise tourism.

The tourism administrative department shall strengthen the publicity and recommendation of cruise tourism.

The municipal administrative departments of development and reform, transport and port, port services, and tourism shall jointly push ahead with the planning and construction of cruise homeports, perfect relevant functional and accessory facilities of tourism services, and coordinate with the port supervisory department in improving the service and comprehensive management level of cruise customs clearance.”

5. An article is added as Article 22: “This Municipality pushes ahead with the exploitation of rural tourist resources and promotes the development of rural tourism. The municipal tourism and agriculture administrative departments shall, jointly with the relevant administrative departments and the district/county people’s government, formulate the relevant policies to support the development of rural tourism. The district/county tourism and agriculture administrative departments shall strengthen the recommendation of rural tourism, and provide training and guidance on carrying out rural tourism services for rural collective economic organizations and peasants’ specialized cooperatives.

The municipal quality and technical supervision administrative department shall, jointly with the municipal tourism, agriculture, public security, industry and commerce, environmental protection, and food and drug supervision administrative departments, formulate the relevant standards for rural tourism services.”

6. An article is added as Article 24: “In case that important festivals, sport events, conferences and exhibitions are held in this Municipality, the municipal tourism administrative department may, according to needs, prepare the guarantee planning for tourist accommodation, and allocate various accommodation resources to meet the needs of accommodation.

The municipal tourism administrative department may organize residents in this Municipality to voluntarily use their houses for the accommodation of the tourists participating in the tourist activities listed in the previous clause, and the specific administrative procedures shall be provided by the Municipal People’s Government.”

7. An article is added as Article 27: “The municipal tourism administrative department shall, according to the actual circumstances of tourism development, and jointly with the municipal administrative departments of development and reform, cultural relics, commerce, greenery and city appearance, and culture, radio, film and TV, formulate policies and measures to promote tourism consumption.”

8. Article 24 is amended to Article 30, and Clause 1 thereof is amended to: “The Municipal tourism administrative department shall, according to this Municipality’s planning of national economy and social development and the actual needs of the tourism development, and jointly with the relevant departments, organize the preparation of the municipal planning of the tourism development, which shall, upon being approved by the Municipal People’s Government according to the legal procedure, be brought into the corresponding urban and rural planning and be well adapted into the comprehensive land use planning.”

A Clause is added as Clause 3: “The preparation of tourism development planning shall be market-oriented and rationally guided to prevent the random exploitation and redundant construction.”

9. Article 25 is amended to Article 31, and Clause 1 thereof is amended to: “The preparation of the tourism development planning of this Municipality shall give play to the comprehensive advantages of the tourist resources in the Yangtze River Delta Region, and strengthen the cooperation with the Yangtze River Delta and other domestic regions for the development of interregional tourism.”

10. Article 37 is amended to Article 43, and a clause is added as Clause 3: “In case of emergency, tourism operators shall promptly report to the relevant agencies of the locality of emergency and this Municipality’s tourism administrative department.”

11. An article is added as Article 45: “Tourism operators with business contacts shall not offer or accept each other’s commission in concealed accounts.

They shall agree, through contracts, on the specific amount or proportion of the commission payment, bring the commission into the business income, and pay tax according to law.

Tourism operators shall not pay commission directly to tourist guides or such other tourism employees. ”

12. Article 39 is amended to Article 46, and Clause 1 thereof is amended to: “If a travel agency organizes a tourist activity, it shall sign a written tourism contract with the tourists. For signing of a tourism contract, the model contract text recommended by the relevant administrative departments may be referred to. Upon the consent of the tourists and the travel agency through consultation, the following items may be included in the contract:

(1) the settlement of disrupted travels due to the delay or cancellation of air, railway, ship or such other transportation operation;

(2) the settlement of disrupted contract performance due to force majeure; and

(3) other items that need to be agreed on.”

Clause 5 thereof is amended to: “This Municipality exercises the travel agency quality deposit system. If a travel agency, in violation of the agreement in the tourism contract, prejudices tourists’ legitimate rights and interests, or loss is caused to tourists’ advance payment of travel expenses due to the dissolution, bankruptcy or other reasons on the part of a travel agency, the tourism administrative department may use the travel agency quality deposit to pay on behalf of the agency for the compensation to the tourists.”

13. An article is added as Article 47: “When signing a tourism contract with tourists, a travel agency shall explain the following items to the tourists:

(1) the specific contents of the tourism contract;

(2) the laws, norms and customs of the tourist destination that need tourists’ attention;

(3) notice items on medical aids in case of emergency; and

(4) other items that the travel agency considers necessary to be explained to the tourists.”

14. An article is added as Article 48: “A travel agency shall distribute registration forms of health information to the tourists, guide the latter to fill in them, and remind the tourists to bring them along.

The tourists shall fill in the registration forms of health information truthfully.”

15. An article is added as Article 49: “A travel agency shall cover travel service liability according to law, and when signing a tourism contract, shall remind the tourists of the coverage of personal accident insurance.

This Municipality implements a blanket insurance system for travel service liability, and the relevant trade associations may organize travel agencies to cover the travel service liability in a centralized way.

Tourism operators are encouraged to cover public liability.” 

16. An article is added as Article 50: “A travel agency that needs to rent passenger vehicles or ships shall choose a transportation enterprise with corresponding qualifications and vehicles or ships that have been covered by legally compulsory insurance.

In the tourist transportation contract signed between a travel agency and a transportation enterprise, the operation plan shall be defined, and the transportation route and price, the requirements on vehicles or ships, the liability for breach of contract, and such other matters shall be agreed on.

The vehicles or ships that undertake tourist transportation shall be staffed with drivers with corresponding qualifications and be equipped with safety facilities and equipment according to law. ”

17. An article is added as Article 51: “This Municipality implements an assessment system for the service quality of travel agencies.

The assessment of the service quality of travel agencies shall be voluntarily applied for by travel agencies, be assessed by the relevant trade associations according to this Municipality’s relevant standards, and the assessment shall be announced to the public. ”

18. Article 42 is amended to Article 54, and Clause 3 thereof is amended to: “Tourist attractions (sights) shall, according to the needs of reception and the relevant standards provided by the State and this Municipality, set up water supply, power supply, parking lot, public toilet and non-impeding facilities, and such other auxiliary service facilities for tourism, and guiding and descriptive signs in Chinese and foreign languages.”

19. An article is added as Article 63: “In case that the travel agencies violate the provision of Clause 1, Article 50 of these Regulations, and fail to rent vehicles or ships as provided, the tourism administrative department shall order them to make rectifications, and cumulatively impose a fine of not less than 10,000 yuan but not more than 50,000 yuan on them.”

20. The order of articles and clauses is adjusted accordingly.

This Decision shall be effective as of December 1, 2009. The Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on Tourism shall be amended according to this Decision and be promulgated anew.