9 Lhasa travel agencies ordered to close down and reorganize in 2015

In 2015, inspections into the Lhasa tourism market were carried out 200 times, with 9 travel agencies receiving administration penalties to suspend business operations and reorganize. Three travel agencies were fined 30,000 yuan.

More than 100 travel agencies were inspected in Lhasa in 2015, examining the tourism market environment of more than 20 key scenic areas (spots), in-depth examination of the increase in flow of tourist traffic in more than 100 old town-area hotels, more than 100 travel agencies, and 25 group tour meal establishments.

The Lhasa Tourism Management Bureau cracked down on illegal violations that disturb the order of the tourism market as uncovered by the inspections. Among them, 9 travel agencies received administrative penalties to suspend business operations and reorganize, one agency was declared a “black agency”, and 9 guides who violated the rules were ordered to cease giving tours for one month.

The Lhasa Tourism Bureau also united with the Public Security Bureau to carry out individual investigations of tour groups. Last year, they recorded a total of 40,300 tour groups and 572,000 people, effectively preventing illegal behavior from the “four blacks”: black cars, black tour guides, black shops, and black tour agencies.