By the end of this week, the fake tour signs that are posted at more than 30 bus stops across eight districts in Beijing will be completely demolished.

Officials from Beijing 2008 Environmental Construction Headquarters announced the formal start of the crackdown on the illegal "one day tour" bus signs in Beijing on January 6.

Several tour bus lines used to provide one-day tours for tourists. These bus companies provided illegal tour buses with a pretext for spreading because they were scattered across a number of stations. All the legal tour buses have been suspended since November 2005 and all the current tour signs near stations advertise illegal tour buses.

Beijing has now set up an official transportation center for tourists, which provides 17 different tour routes, including the "world cultural heritage tour". The Beijing Hub of Tour Dispatch departs from several spots inside the city. Its buses will take tourists directly to their tour destinations.

To crack down the illegal tours and further regulate Beijing's tourism market, all the companies, transportation vehicles and staff related to the "one-day tours" will be severely dealt with by the end of this month.  

(CRI January 8, 2007)