The warning came ahead of the weeklong National Day holiday starting next Tuesday and followed tourists' bad experiences during previous "golden weeks."

The China National Tourism Administration promised to punish agencies found to have breached regulations and maltreated their clients, but they also asked people not to be misled by cheap advertised prices.

Peng Zhikai, division chief of the administration's Travel Services Management Department, said: "Joining a standard travel party is the beginning of a pleasant trip, especially for overseas journeys."

On the Chinese mainland, 528 agencies have approval to organize overseas travel.

According to Peng, agencies and tourists should agree on a travel contract in advance and this should clarify the route, schedule and accommodation.

Peng added: "Some agencies offer really low prices in their advertising to attract consumers' interest. But the tourists cannot save a cent when all the extra expenses - such as events that have not been prepaid, and shopping - are taken into consideration."

A Beijing couple was shocked at how bad the travel arrangements were when they went on a package tour of Europe in June.

During the 13-day trip, only 24 hours were for sightseeing, with some time for shopping, and the rest of the time was spent on the road.

Peng said: "Tourists have to learn to protect themselves when finding out an agency has cheated them. This case should be reported to the local consumers' association or taken to court."

He said he would welcome more people suing because this would help the authority find and punish illegal travel agencies.

Insiders said this year's October golden week will again bring handsome profits to the tourism industry.

On Monday, the administration reiterated its policy that travel agencies are not allowed to force tourists to go shopping or take them to places relating to sex and gambling, according to a China Youth Daily report.

Several big travel agencies in Beijing have declared that their overseas tours are already fully booked.

Last year, 12.13 million people traveled overseas, up 15.9 percent compared with the previous year.

Twenty-two countries and regions have received State Council approval as travel destinations for self-financed Chinese mainland citizens.

China has developed travel business with most of its neighboring countries.

World Tourism Organization statistics showed that China's international travel income was the world's fifth largest last year, coming ahead of Germany and Britain.

According to official figures from the tourism administration, tourism earnings last year amounted to 499.5 billion yuan (US$60.2 billion), up 10.5 percent over the previous year.

(China Daily September 28, 2002)