Grounding bad jetsetters

Leaving trash everywhere is a questionable behavior of many Chinese tourists while traveling not only in the country, but also abroad.[Photo by Dai Wenxue/China Daily]

Authorities are considering policies to deny overseas-travel applications from Chinese tourists who act 'embarrassingly' abroad. Yang Feiyue reports.

Simply saying "tsk-tsk" seems insufficient. So authorities are considering grounding outbound Chinese travelers who do the travel don'ts. The hope is poo-pooing future trips by tourists who've committed no-nos overseas will encourage them to act maturely.

Shanghai, for one, plans to legislate punitive measures to curb "childish behaviors" by local tourists when they travel outside the country.

The metropolis' government officials say the city will this year consider blacklisting tourists found to conduct themselves "shamefully" abroad.

Authorities may deny offenders' subsequent overseas-travel applications if they want to join overseas tour groups in the future, the Shanghai Morning Post reported on Feb 12.

The rules proposed by the city - one of the country's major middle-class bastions - are some of the country's strictest and point to the likely intensification of measures Chinese authorities may adopt to fight outbound travelers' negative image.

Shanghai's announcement came after Jiangsu province officially blacklisted four travelers because they caused chaos on a Thai AirAsia budget flight from Bangkok to Jiangsu's capital, Nanjing.

After a passenger scalded a flight attendant with hot water, another threatened to blow up the plane while a third threatened to commit suicide by jumping out of the emergency door, while banging on the windows, media report.

Ultimately, the flight had to return to Bangkok.

But questions surround how this blacklisting will deter other Chinese tourists from behaving "badly".