A Discussion on an Information Disclosure System for Travel Agencies Based on the Tourist's Right to Know.

In March 2012, the China National Tourism Administration issued an "Announcement of the general situation of tourist complaints, 2011". The three most common complaints were the reduction of service standards on trips, tour guides failing to do their jobs, and arbitrary changes to tours without the consent of tourists. Dishonesty directed toward tourists is more serious in the case of travel agency businesses rather than for other tourism enterprises, such as those involved in accommodation, transportation, and services at scenic locations. The root of the problem is that travel agencies encourage tourists to consume excessively. In response to tourists' lack of faith in travel agencies, this article puts forward an information disclosure system on the legal basis of tourists' 'right to know', so as to reduce information asymmetry in the tourism market. At present, there is no standard regulation for information disclosure by travel agencies in China. In this study, the status quo and practical problems are analyzed in terms of the contract information for organized travel, management information of the travel agency and information about administrative regulations and procedures. The problems discussed include the lack of information on tourism service quality in the organized travel contract, confusing information about the products and operations of travel agencies on the Internet, the lack of a fixed timetable and channels in regulatory information released by administrative departments, and the lack of a scientific rating system for evaluating the integrity of travel agencies. To resolve the above issues, proposals are made to construct a complete information disclosure system for travel agencies. The proposals include; 1) to further define the standards of service quality in the organized travel contract; 2) to submit an annual report on travel agency management, with the standard content divided into basic operations, business reputation and efforts to enhance the reputation, and social responsibility of the enterprise; 3) to create a vertical-search database of management information for travel agencies; 4) to diversify supervisory measures taken by the tourism administrative departments; and 5) to set up tourism consumer groups to collect tourist evaluations, provide tourists with reliable information on travel services, and to guide consumption. The final part of the article discusses how to improve the legal remedy of tourists' 'right to know' as a useful supplement to an information disclosure system for travel agencies. The overall discussion pays attention to strengthening the information disclosure obligation of travel agencies, promoting information regulation by tourism administrative departments and tourism consumer groups, so as to improve the tourists' 'right to know' and forming an environment of good-faith management in the tourism sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]