Industry Tourism Standards Evaluation Commission Set Up In Shanghai

An industry tourism standards evaluation commission, which is said to be the first of its kind in China, has been formally set up in Shanghai.

Made up from the Shanghai Economy and Information Commission, the Shanghai Municipal Tourism Bureau, and the Shanghai Industry Tourism Promotion Center, the new commission is responsible for the drafting, implementation and evaluation of standards and rules and issuing certificates to companies that are up to the relevant standards.

It is learned that the commission will make standards for industry tourism and put forward concrete requirements on facilities, service items, staff, environment, safety, health, and management of scenic spots.

In addition, the commission will focus on accepting applications from scenic spots in March and April each year for evaluation, and it will classify scenic spots into two classes and recommend those evaluated as "Excellent" to be a national industry tourism demonstration site.

At present, there are up to 300 scenic spots in Shanghai, of these 15 are national industry tourism demonstration sites. However, regulations are still needed to be made about these scenic spots' facilities, visitor channels, safety measures, travel products, service management, reception work flow and principles.

According to a representative from the Shanghai Industry Tourism Promotion Center, the commission aims to evaluate 50 excellent scenic spots this year and recommend ten of them to apply for a national tourism standardization demonstration sites.