Following a call by the
National Tourism
Administration on Monday, the Shanghai Tourism Administrative
Commission yesterday unveiled a series of measures to bail out
local travel agencies, hit hard by SARS outbreak.
Among the measures announced was the temporary return of the
"quality deposit" to local travel agencies, who can keep the money
until December 31, 2004. This means agencies running inbound travel
business can avail of 400,000 yuan (US$48,193) of funds; those
allowed to do both inbound and outbound businesses can receive 1
million yuan, and those involved with domestic tour packages can
get 60,000 yuan.
Quality deposit is the money travel agencies across the world
handle to local tourism authority when launching their business.
The money is used to compensate aggrieved tourists who file
"legitimate" complaints against tour companies.
The measure immediately drew praise from agencies.
"The 1 million yuan, which amounts to two-thirds of the quality
deposit we turned in to the commission, will offer us sufficient
help," said Wang Yujia of Shanghai Dazhong International Travel
Service.
"The money will be used to pay staff salaries as well as to restart
business when the SARS epidemic ends," he said.
Other steps unveiled by the commission include:
- Bonuses for local travel agencies that earned US$200,000
foreign currency or more last year.
- Travel agencies which bought insurance from the Shanghai branch
of the People's Insurance Co of China before May 18, 2003 can have
the insurance terms prolonged by four months.
The bonuses will especially be helpful for big agencies which cater
to a large number of overseas tourists, such as Shanghai China
International Travel Service Co Ltd.
"Last year, we received about 105,000 tourists from abroad and
earned more than US$10 million," said a company official Wang
Zhicheng, who admitted the agency was grateful for the measure,
which would bring them enough working funds to put the company back
on track.
SARS is having a debilitating effect on the local tourism
industry.
According to the commission, travel agencies offering both domestic
and overseas tour packages reported their income plummeted by 78
percent in April compared to the same period last year, while
agencies involved in domestic travel said their income fell 20
percent year-on-year.
(Eastday.com May 22, 2003)