Over-protection of tourist sites by locals does them no favors
THE CHINA NATIONAL TOURISM ADMINISTRATION said it has finished inspecting all the country's tourist sites, and 367 of them received penalties because they failed to meet the necessary standards. It has even removed 107 of them from the official rating system. Beijing News comments:
The China National Tourism Administration is obviously determined to regulate the domestic tourism industry because removal from the official rating system is a very harsh punishment for tourist sites. To quote some local tourism experts, the move will result in an earthquake in the tourism industry.
However, the punishments handed out to so many tourist sites show the problem with the tourism industry had already become quite serious, yet there were no efforts to rectify the situation until the administration launched its inspection. Where were the local tourism authorities that are supposed to supervise local tourist sites?
