Travel Working Group meets with CNTA and congratulates on the publication of TAR Go back »
2009-03-25 | All chapters
The European Chamber's Travel Working Group meets with China National Tourism Administration and congratulates on the publication of Travel Agency Regulation
European Chamber, 24th March 2009
On behalf of the Travel Working Group, a delegation led by President of the European Chamber Joerg Wuttke had a meeting with Mr Zhu Shanzhong, Vice Chairman of China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) today.
During the meeting, the European Chamber congratulated CNTA on the newly published Travel Agency Regulation (TAR), which will come into effect on 1st May 2009 and repeal the current “Travel Agency Administrative Regulations”. The Chamber’s Travel Working Group believes that this important step will greatly improve the regulatory environment by providing equal footing to Chinese and foreign tour operators.
Regarding the outbound side, the Chamber also addressed their concern to Vice Chairman Zhu Shanzhong that foreign tour operators are still not allowed to operate outbound travel services in China. The Travel Working Group believes that introducing competition will develop the markets and provide the consumer with a better choice of tour packages. More importantly, introducing foreign investment in the travel sector will have a trickle-down effect on the industry as a whole, developing the market in line with international practices and standards.
Vice Chairman Zhu Shanzhong updated the Chamber on the latest status of the EU-China travel market during the meeting. In response to the Chamber’s concern and recommendation, Mr Zhu said that CNTA is currently working on some pilot schemes and changes in this area are expected to take place gradually.
In the European Business in China Position Paper 2008/2009 (click here to download the Paper) published in September 2008, the Travel Working Group has stated their concern regarding the restriction on the market access for foreign operators. The new TAR lowers the barriers for market entry and eases foreign travel agencies’ operation in China’s domestic market.
The TAR reduces the minimum registered capital for inbound tourism service from RMB 1.5 million to RMB 300,000. This reduction standardizes the market admission requirement, and sets the capital requirement for foreign investors to invest in China’s inbound tourism industry at the same level with local one. This improvement is in line with WTO commitment. In addition, the TAR also removes the requirement on establishing subsidiaries and other original additional requirements.
On the other hand, the Travel Working Group is concerned about the implementation of the TAR, and therefore calls for the release of more information on the license application and time frame of the approval process.
About the European Chamber’s Travel Working Group
The Travel Working Group was established in 2001 to represent the European travel industry in its widest sense, including tour operators, hotels, airlines and national tourism boards, within both inbound and outbound sectors, covering for both business and leisure travels. The Travel Working Group currently has a total of 45 members. For more information, please click here.
Please see the Policy of Travel Agencies and the Decree 550 for the full text in Chinese.