Ban on deals for vice trips abroad

TOURISM authorities in Guangdong have reportedly issued a regulation prohibiting travel agents from arranging prostitutes, gambling or drugs for residents abroad, and requiring them to report such activities.

Under the regulations, Guangdong residents will face a three-year travel ban if they are found to have visited prostitutes or casinos or taken drugs on overseas tours.

Travellers are required to sign a declaration before they leave China that they will not engage in these activities. They are also forbidden to bring home pornographic material or drugs.

Travel agencies will be penalised if they are found to have solicited such 'entertainment' for their clients.

Overseas travel agents are also required to sign contracts with their Chinese counterparts and will be held responsible if the Guangdong travellers are found to have broken the rules under their care.

The new regulation, according to the pro-Beijing Ta Kung Pao newspaper yesterday, was formulated at a provincial conference on overseas tours held in Guangzhou recently.

Guangdong Tourism Bureau Director Lu Weixiong said the new regulations were aimed at guaranteeing the 'healthy development' of tourism.

According to the report, travel agents are authorised to 'suspend the activities' of their clients if they were found to have indulged in gambling or visiting prostitutes.

These clients would then be escorted home and the travel agents would report their conduct to their employers. The police would be notified if the tourists were not employed.

The newspaper, however, did not explain how the authorities would enforce the regulations.

Hong Kong legislator Howard Young, who represents the tourism industry, asked if showing tourists pornographic movies, horse-racing or nightclubs would be considered violations of the Chinese rules.

He said: 'For example, casinos and the Crazy Horse strip club in Macau are among the most popular venues for mainland tourists and are totally legitimate in the enclave. Do the Chinese authorities consider that travel agents cannot bring customers there?' The legislator believed the regulations were just 'window dressing', issued because the tourism authorities were concerned about the conduct of Guangdong tourists in Hong Kong and Macau.