‘Uncivilised’ Chinese tourists to be ranked on level of bad behaviour by authorities

Chinese authorities are to rank the different levels of bad behaviour of  “uncivilised” mainland tourists so the travel industry can share data and choose whether or not to do business with them, state media said.

Mainland tourists have gained an embarrassingly bad reputation around the world following numerous reports of Chinese travellers behaving badly.

Only last month state media branded a group of mainland airline passengers “barbarians” after they scalded a Thai stewardess with hot water and noodles and threatened to blow up the plane during a flight from Bangkok to Nanjing.

Four of the tourists have been blacklisted from travelling by the provincial tourist board, while their tour guide has had his licence suspended for a year.

Also last month, a Chinese passenger on board an internal Xiamen Air flight from Hangzhou to Chengdu sparked a safety scare by yanking open an emergency exit just before a plane was due to take off to "get some fresh air", Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

The airline’s maintenance team rushed to fix the safety door and the flight took off on time, Hangzhou airport staff told the newspaper.

Now the National Tourism Administration is to launch a system ranking of badly behaved mainland tourists.

Airline operators, hotels and tour agents will have access to the data so they can choose whether or not to do business with potential customers, chairman Li Jinzao was quoted as saying in a report by China National Radio.

Li said the new classification system – to be launched in the second quarter – would faithfully record the unruly behaviour of tourists.

Businesses working in tourism would be able to rely on the information before “deciding carefully whether to sell the person that ticket, or whether to let them take my flight”, he said.

The administration would also provide data for the public about the mismanagement of top tourist attractions and star-rated hotels, the report said.

The data would include information on the number of complaints received by attractions and hotels, how many had been dealt with and – of those that had been handled – how many customers had been satisfied with the outcome, it said.

Those attractions and hotels that were found to have been mismanaged could be removed from the list of the mainland’s recommended list of tourist attractions and hotels, Li was quoted as saying.

Rated hotels – from one up to five – are those that have been assessed and gained the administration’s approval.

Top tourist sites in China are ranked into five different levels of ratings, from 1A to 5A – with 5A being the highest.

The ratings of sites take into account their importance and other factors such as the management, safety, and cleanliness of the area.

Last month the China Daily, which is published by the government, criticised the group of mainland travellers on the flight from Bangkok, saying in an editorial that the incident would “tarnish” the image of the Chinese people.

“They believed that behaving like barbarians would get them what they wanted, forgetting that civility demands that a fellow human being be treated as an equal,” it said.