Research On Punitive Damages System Of Tourism Law In China

With the development of the national economy, people who have more material resources are paying more attention on spiritual satisfaction. Tourism has become a trend of modern society, and it has been more inseparable to modern people’s life. While developing rapidly, the tourism industry also faces a series of problems to be solved, including “abandon tour groups” behavior which is of a serious nature. “Abandon tour groups” behavior frequently occurred in Chinese tourism practice not only seriously infringed upon the legitimate rights and interests of tourists, but also disrupted the normal order of the tourism market. However, how to regulate that behavior effectively has been a big problem in tourism industry for a long time. In this context, tourism law which was made and implemented in 2013 introduced the punitive damages system to regulate similar behavior by setting high punitive damages. This article selects punitive damages system in Chinese tourism law as the research object, analyzes the existing problems and puts forward the improvement measures on the basis of in-depth study of the system, in order to make it be better used in tourism practice.This article is divided into four parts to research and analyze the punitive damages system in tourism law, specific ideas are as follows:The first part of the article analyzes the theoretical basis of setting punitive damages system in Chinese tourism law. The author believes that regulating tourism market and the special nature of the tourists are important reasons for the provisions of the system; the punitive function and restraining function of punitive damages system are also the legitimacy for introducing the system in tourism law; from the perspective of cost-benefit theory in economics, it is also of great significance to protect the legitimate rights and interests of tourists and improve social benefits.Based on the article of law, the second part analyzes the constitutive elements of punitive damages system in tourism law, which can be summarized into four key points: it is applicable to the travel agency and tourists in package tour only; travel agency have an intentional serious breach of contract; the travel agency still refuses to complete travel contract after required by tourists; The behavior of the travel agency caused personal injury of tourists, retention and other serious consequences.The third part analyzes problems that existing in the punitive damages system in Chinese tourism law. There are some limitations in the scope of application and the calculation standards of punitive damages; and considering the actual situation of tourism industry in our country, the punitive damages system is difficult to be applied in tourism disputes settlement mechanism. Which means it is difficult to give full play to the function of the system.Aimed at the aforementioned problems of punitive damages system, the author puts forward some measures for improving the system in the fourth part. Such as expanding the scope of application of punitive damages, improving the mechanism of the calculation of punitive damages, putting forward the establishment of tourism court and trying to apply the punitive damages system in the field of tourism complaint.