China’s first tourism law will come into effect on Oct 1, and tourists will be urged to behave civilly when traveling overseas. The well-intended legislation will not have much of an affect on tourists’ behavior unless there are concrete punitive repercussions, said an article in Guangzhou Daily.Excerpts:

In May, a 15-year-old boy from China was reported to have defaced an ancient temple in Egypt with graffiti, which caused outrage in China and Egypt. This is one of many incidents in recent years tarnishing the behavior of Chinese tourists overseas.

Individual cases do not represent the behavior of Chinese tourists as a whole, but these cases already have the power to damage the country’s image and rank Chinese tourists among the worst behaved, creating the perception that they spit, litter, speak loudly in public and smoke in prohibited areas.

South Korea faced a similar problem more than a decade ago, when more of its people began to travel abroad and were criticized for their uncivilized manner. Foreign media even ran pieces on the so-called “ugly Koreans”. The country enacted a law that would deny passport to tourists who violate laws in their destination country and thus undermine their own country’s image.

China can learn from South Korea and other countries. It is necessary to take concrete punitive measures, such as passport denial and the imposition of fines.