Chen Baogen, vice-mayor of Xi'an, said the incident that took place on May 2 when a tourist was beaten up by tourist employees showed that reforms in the tourism industry were far from satisfactory.

Chen has urged local departments to pay more attention to improving management and services.

At present, a number of projects in some tourism spots are contracted privately and the owners are looking for profits without providing proper services. Some governmental departments are also negligent when it comes to supervision and control, Chen said.

"We must take drastic measures so that an incident like the one on May 2 will never happen again," the vice-mayor urged.

On May 2, some tourists from Sichuan Province were in a scuffle with security guards and performers during an argument over seats at the North Gate of the City Wall, a tourism spot which was originally built in Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). One was beaten up seriously.

The day after the incident, Li Xuemei, vice-mayor in charge of the tourism industry in Xi'an, went to the Sichuan tour group to offer an apology. The local government paid the tourists for the cost of their visit.

Zhao Shengbin, thought to be the instigator of the incident was detained by local police. Those employees also thought to be involved have been discharged, according to Chen Baogen.

On May 5, the Xi'an municipal government held a conference on the tourism industry. Mayor Sun Qingyun also urged all departments concerned to enhance management and supervision to put an end to such incidents.

Two days later, the Xi'an City Cultural Relics and Garden Bureau suspended Sun Li, director of the City Wall Management Office, from duty and also discharged Li Jie, director of the Management Office of the City Wall's North Gate.

(China Daily May 09, 2002)