Beijing: China, one of the world's biggest sources of outbound travellers, is beginning to blacklist its poorly behaved tourists after a string of reports about inappropriate behaviour by Chinese people while abroad.
In an attempt to encourage people to behave while travelling, the China National Tourism Administration (NTA) passed a new rule stating that tourists will be blacklisted for offences like, "acting anti-socially on public transport, damaging private or public property, disrespecting local customs, sabotaging historical exhibits or engaging in gambling or pornographic activities".
Records will be kept in a two-tired system: provincial-level tourism authorities are responsible for cases under their jurisdiction while the NTA will be in charge of a nationwide register, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
The NTA said tourism authorities will inform blacklisted tourists and "propose correction measures in order to mitigate the negative impact".
The regulation comes amid growing concern about the ill manners of Chinese tourists both at home and abroad.
Chinese tourists are often accused of jumping the queue, damaging historical monuments, to more outrageous incidents like picking fights with flight attendants.
In 2013, a Chinese tourist wrote his name on a relief carving in Luxor, Egypt.
In December, a Chinese passenger threw a cup of hot instant noodles at a flight attendant on an international flight.
Chinese tourists had also been fined or jailed for carrying prohibited items or purchasing wild animal products.
Rising incomes and an ever growing middle-class has allowed millions of Chinese people to travel outside their country.
A recent research by Bank of America Merrill Lynch found that there were 109 million Chinese tourists last year. These figures are a dramatic increase from the 10 million outbound tourists in 2000.
