Regulating the order of the online travel market focuses on improving means to improve efficiency

Original title: Regulating the Order of the Online Travel Market focuses on improving means to improve efficiency

In order to further improve the regulatory means and regulate the market order in accordance with the law, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism recently issued the Opinions on Promoting the High-quality Development of the Online Tourism Market (hereinafter referred to as the Opinions). At present, the online travel market is developing rapidly, the number of online tour operators is increasing, new business formats and service models are emerging, and the recovery trend of the tourism industry continues to improve. The issuance of the Opinions is conducive to regulating the order of the tourism market, eliminating risks and hidden dangers in the development process in a timely manner, protecting the legitimate rights and interests of tourists, improving the tourism consumption environment, boosting tourism consumption confidence, and promoting the high-quality development of online tourism. Combined with the content of the Opinions and the development of the industry, the following should be done to regulate the order of the online travel market:

First, strengthen market supervision and inspection. Carrying out supervision and inspection of the online tourism market is the statutory duty of cultural and tourism administrative departments at all levels, and it is also a necessary guarantee for supervising online tourism operators to abide by the law, which is very important for maintaining the order of the online tourism market. Carrying out online tourism market supervision inspections shall establish and complete industry chain supervision mechanisms with online tourism platform operators as the core, and improve closed-loop regulatory mechanisms such as online inspections, dynamic monitoring, situation reports, administrative guidance, administrative interviews, and problem transfers. Promote the establishment of standards for online tourism products and services, take standards as an important basis for improving the quality of online tourism services, and judge the quality of online tourism operation services according to standards. Issues such as engaging in travel agency business activities without permission, selling "unreasonable low-price tour" products, and illegally collecting and utilizing users' personal information in online travel operation services are the focus of supervision inspections. In regulatory inspections, online tour operators with problems shall be reminded, warned and stopped through administrative interviews and other means, discover clues of illegal acts, and promptly transfer them to the competent law enforcement departments for investigation and handling, so as to regulate the order of online tourism operations.

The second is to strengthen supervision and inspection of law enforcement. Investigating and dealing with illegal acts in accordance with the law and making violators pay the due price is an effective education and warning for other online travel operators, which is conducive to highlighting the authority of laws and regulations and regulating the order of the online travel market. In law enforcement work, cultural and tourism administrative departments at all levels shall, in accordance with the principle of integrated online and offline supervision, establish a supervision and management system for routine inspections, periodic inspections, and joint inspections with administrative departments such as market supervision, carry out supervision and inspection of online tourism operation services in accordance with law, and investigate and deal with violations of laws and regulations. In law enforcement efforts, they shall comprehensively sort out relevant information such as local online tourism operation service entities, establish a directory of online tourism operation service providers, strengthen the "double random, one public" law enforcement supervision of the online tourism market, timely, accurately, and standardize the disclosure of random inspection matters, random inspection plans, and random inspection results, and use government information disclosure to increase the effectiveness of law enforcement and supervision. All levels of cultural and tourism administrative departments shall, together with administrative departments such as for market regulation, explore the establishment of consultation mechanisms, joint law enforcement mechanisms, and joint punishment mechanisms for online tourism business cases, and realize full-chain supervision of online tour operators before, during and after the event. While strengthening government supervision and law enforcement, cultural and tourism administrative departments at all levels should also strengthen social supervision, explore supervision mechanisms with the participation of the public and third-party professional institutions, promote the transparency of online tour operators' compliance operations, and build a modern governance mechanism for the online tourism market.

The third is to improve the efficiency of credit supervision. Credit supervision is a new type of modern regulatory mechanism adopted by administrative departments based on the credit status of market entities with different types and intensities, which is conducive to encouraging compliance operations and increasing the cost of illegal operations. All levels of administrative departments for culture and tourism shall strengthen and improve credit regulation in accordance with laws and regulations such as the Tourism Law and the Interim Provisions on the Administration of Online Tour Operation Services, implement management measures against untrustworthy online tourism business entities, and strengthen the deterrent effect of credit regulation. It is necessary to organize and carry out credit evaluations of online tourism business enterprises on the basis of cultural and tourism credit management provisions and other rules, and promote hierarchical and categorical supervision on the basis of the credit status of business entities, and encourage market entities to operate in compliance with the law. Online tour operators are encouraged to take the initiative to make credit commitments to the public, rely on the strength of the public to supervise the business conduct and service quality of online tour operators, and include their trustworthiness in the quality rating system. Strengthen the establishment of a culture of creditworthiness in the online travel industry, let a culture of creditworthiness infiltrate every online tour operator, establish a group of typical enterprises for creditworthy operation, guide and encourage more online tour operators to operate in creditworthiness, and form a good trend of creditworthy operation. Give full play to the data advantages of online tourism operation platform enterprises, support online tour operators to participate in pilot work on the development of credit economy based on the operating conditions of market entities, consumer evaluations, and third-party supervision data, and continuously improve the effectiveness of credit supervision.

The fourth is to improve the efficiency of digital supervision. In the digital era, only digital supervision can meet the needs of the development of the times and effectively regulate the order of the online tourism market. Relying on modern digital technology and based on online tourism operation big data, cultural and tourism administrative departments at all levels supervise and manage the service quality and law-abiding status of online tourism operators, with the characteristics of all-weather, all-round and high efficiency. Cultural and tourism administrative departments at all levels shall rely on the national tourism supervision service platform to build an online tourism informatization supervision mechanism with full coverage of business quantity, full tracking of information, and dynamic adjustment of means, and establish non-contact supervision mechanisms such as online discovery and online circulation of illegal leads. Through the national cultural market technology supervision and service platform, categorize and handle reporting and complaint leads involving online tourism operation services, urge business entities to rectify in a timely manner in accordance with the law, and transfer their leads of violations of laws and regulations to local law enforcement departments for investigation and handling. Carry out online travel market risk monitoring, identification, analysis, response, and disposal, and promptly issue reminders for risks found in monitoring. Promote the use of standardized tourism electronic contracts by online tour operators, and promote the implementation of the "Tourism Electronic Contracts and Service Specifications". For the above-mentioned online tourism market regulatory information, it should be strengthened to be collected and shared, and the effectiveness of online tourism market supervision should be continuously improved.

(Wang Tianxing, the author is a member of the Rule of Law Expert Committee of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and the deputy director of the Cultural Tourism Law Center of Beijing Second Foreign Chinese University)