It's learned from the China National Tourism Administration that 170 travel agencies will be withdrawn of operation licenses according to the result of 2000 national annual checkup of travel agencies.

China had a total of 8,993 travel agencies by the end of 2000. Among the 8,605 travel agencies which took part in the annual checkup 7,884 got passed, 551 (about 6.4 percent) were put off for re-exam and were given warning, criticism and reorganization, required to correct themselves within a time-limit, etc., and 170 (or 1.98 percent) will be deprived of operation licenses.

But one thing noticeable is that international travel agencies which account for 14 percent of the total share 98 percent of the gross profit of the trade, while the rest 86 percent which run the domestic tours only saw red in gross profit and profit margin. Nearly 50 percent of the total business profit of Chinese travel agencies comes from the inbound tours.

Furthermore, the checkup indicates that the 100 best travel agencies both in gross profit and revenue profit margin all have their headquarters seated in "Excellent Tourism Cities" and are mainly centered in major port cities, and tourist resources cities and repairs.

(People’s Daily 06/14/2001)