Research On The Regulation Of Cruise Tourism System Design By Maritime Law

In recent years,the cruise tourism has become a new focus in current tourism development in China.The cruise tourism is mainly regulated by tourist and maritime laws and rules in China.The Maritime Law has not taken its particularities into account at the time of legislation.Maritime Law has been implemented for more than 20 years,and the law has lagged behind.Therefore,after the amendment of the Maritime Law was incorporated into the legislative planning of the Ministry of Transport of the People's Republic of China,scholars are increasingly calling for the amendment of the Maritime Law to regulate cruise tourism.Against a background of this,the paper aims to design the system of the cruise tourism adjusted by the Maritime Law.The legal relationship of the cruise tourism is a fundamental issue in the study of the cruise tourism.It is necessary to point out that,China has stipulated market access restrictions for foreign cruise companies to operate tourism activities,so the way of selling cruise tickets in China has formed a special package price selling mode of travel agencies.Under this mode,it forms a complex legal relationships among passengers,cruise companies and travel agencies.The drawbacks of this kind of ticket sales mode are also reflected in the whole cruise tourism system.The most prominent problems are that the status of the contract of carriage of passengers by sea between passengers and cruise companies is forced to "invisible" and the terms of the tickets are difficult to be regulated.In addition,the problems existing in the regulation of the cruise tourism in the Maritime Law include the lack of the captain's right to change navigation,the lack of the right to limit the liability of travel agencies(tour operators),and the lag of the provisions of the carrier's period of responsibility in the development of the cruise tourism.The point of view of this paper is that,in the system design of the cruise tourism adjusted by the Maritime Code,firstly,the definition of the contract of carriage of passengers by sea and the period of carrier's responsibility should be revised to suit the practice of cruise tourism.Secondly,The contents of the cruise tickets should be clearly defined,and the functions of the cruise tickets should be defined by listing the cruise company,travel agencies and passengers,that is,the vouchers for the conclusion of the contract of carriage of passengers by sea;the right of change of navigation should be stipulated;and the captain should have the right to decide on the change of voyage and choose the appropriate port of berth when the ship encounters force majeure during the voyage.The duty of safety and security of the travel agency;limits of liability shall be granted to the travel agency,which stipulates that if the travel agency violates the travel service contract or causes personal injuries or property damages to the passenger,the travel agency shall have the right to invoke the provisions of the Maritime Law concerning the carrier's defenses and limits of liability.