ResearchontheLegislativeDefectsofMainlandChina’sQualityBondSystem andtheEstablishmentofaTourismPublicCompensationFund： AComparisonwithHongKongandTaiwan

Abstract：Atourismpubliccompensationfundisdesignedtoprovidefinancialassurancefortourists.Suchfunds existinHongKongandTaiwanandtheirpositiveeffectshavebeendeterminedbytheTravelIndustryCompensation FundinHongKongandtheTravelQualityGuaranteeFundinTaiwan.InbothHongKongandTaiwan，mosttravel agentscontributetothecompensationfund.Thefundvalueissignificantandissufficienttofullycompensate touristsfortheirlosses.Fortravelagents，thefundsubscriptionrateisveryreasonableanddoesnotcauseany financialdifficulties.Critically，thefundismanagedthroughindustryself？regulation，andindustryassociationsplay animportantroleinitsoperation.Theadministrativeauthoritiesandtheindustryassociationsmaintaingood relations.Inviewoftheabove，wecanconcludethatthetourismpubliccompensationfundsinHongKongand Taiwanarewellmanagedandefficient.

TheaimoftheQualityBondsysteminmainlandChinaissimilartothetourismpubliccompensationfundsof HongKongandTaiwan.Itisafinancialassurancesystemputinplacetoprotecttheconsumerrightsoftourist. However，theQualityBondhasfewobservablepositiveeffects，partlybecauseofcertainlegislativedefectsrelating toit.ThestructureoftheQualityBondmechanismmeansthatitessentiallyactsasaguaranteetocovereachtravel agentagainstthespecificdebtsthatmaybeattributabletothem.AlthoughthetotalvalueoftheQualityBondin mainlandChinaisverysignificant，thelevelofcompensationavailabletoatouristforhisorherlossesislimitedto theamountofasingletravelagent’spayment.Hence，insomecases，thecompensationprovidedbytheQuality Bondisnotsufficienttomakeupforatourist’slosses.Atthesametime，theQualityBondcontributionsplacean intolerableburdenonmanysmalltravelagents.TheQualityBondisadministeredandmanagedbytheTourism AdministrationAuthority.WhentheQualityBondwasestablished，thetourismadministrationauthoritywasauthorized byofficialregulations，suchastheTravelAgentManagementRegulation，andhadtheauthoritytomanagesuch affairs.However，recentdevelopmentsinAdministrativeLawhaverestrictedthepowersofthetourismadministration authority.ThismayleadtoasituationwheretheQualityBondSystemisineffectiveunlessitisproventhatthe tourismadministrationauthorityisclearlyauthorizedtoexerciseitsauthorityunderthelaw，particularlytheTourism Law.ItisdifficulttocomprehendthatsuchregulationsarenotcoveredbytheTourismLaw.Theonlyreasonable explanationisthatthetourismadministrationauthoritynolongerwishestomanageandusetheQualityBond.Some QualityBondoperationalregulationsmaybeprovidedinfutureTourismLawstatutes.However，theQualityBondwill beinefficientinpracticewithoutthesupportofadministrativeadjudicationandexecution.

InviewofthelimitationsofmainlandChina’sQualityBondsystem，andtakingintoconsiderationthe achievementsofthetourismpubliccompensationfundsinHongKongandTaiwan，itisnecessaryformainland ChinatotransformitsQualityBondsystemintoapubliccompensationfundfortourisminthefuture.Therefore，besidestheneedforlegislativereform，wesuggestthatprimarymarketplayers’self？disciplineandsocial supervisionshouldbefullyandeffectivelyusedfortheestablishmentofatourismpubliccompensationfund.

Keywords：QualityBond；tourismpubliccompensationfund；tourismlegislation