Sixteen large travel agencies in the city were given government-issued brass plaques yesterday indicating that they are the official agencies appointed to handle out-of-country travel.

A trial contract which specifies about nine rights and nine responsibilities between travel agencies and travelers, the first of its kind in the country, was also put into practice on the same day.

"This move has been taken to regulate the out-of-country tourism market,'' said Dao Shuming, deputy director with the Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administrative Commission.

Although the commission has only approved several large agencies to offer overseas tours and the country has not approved European countries as destinations, numerous agencies and advertisements in the media claim to offer such packages.

"Those agencies have cheated a lot of money out of travelers,'' said Zhao Dexiang, deputy manager of the Outbound Department with Shanghai China International Travel Service Group, one of the five largest agencies in the city.

Last year, the Donglian International Travel Agency, which has been closed down, defrauded 56 travelers with their bogus foreign tour packages.

But as of Monday, residents can choose agencies which have hung out their official brass plaques, which can be trusted.

More than 60 such plaques will be awarded in the coming months.

At the same time, the new contract binding agencies and travelers to their obligations should make for a properly regulated, safe market.

"In the past years, some agencies have overcharged customers, offered pornographic in-flight movies and have organized tours to countries that haven't been opened to the market,'' said Huang Guangrong, another official with the commission.

With the advent of the travel contract, all the rights and duties of the agencies and the travelers will be clearly set out beforehand and will be relied on in settling legal disputes.

"Disputes often occurred between agencies and travelers in the past because of changes in the market that customers couldn't understand, such as increasing fuel costs resulting in higher tour prices,'' Zhao said.

"Travelers didn't know where to turn for redress, but now they can go to relevant authorities with their copy of the contract,'' said Fang Huiping, deputy director with the Shanghai Consumers Association.

In 2000, among the 72 complaints filed by travelers from the city, 25 concerned out-of-country tour packages.

Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou are now the cities offering the most out-of-country tour packages.

Last year, 100,000 Shanghai residents travelled abroad and the number is steadily increasing.

(China Daily 04/11/2001)