Travel service providers face blacklist in Beijing

The hotel where the woman was attacked. [Photo/VCG]

Beijing is planning to introduce a blacklist of travel service providers that could include a hotel where a woman recently claimed she was assaulted, if it's found to be at fault.

The woman, a tourist from Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, who is being referred to by the alias Wanwan, told police that a man followed and attacked her at the Yitel Hotel in Beijing's Chaoyang district. The alleged assault happened at about 11 pm on Sunday, and the woman claimed several passers-by and a hotel employee did nothing to prevent it.

Zhang Jing, an official at the Beijing Commission of Tourism Development, said the alleged assault was a public security issue and that it would be best to wait for the results of a police investigation before commenting. The tourism authority in Chaoyang is also involved in the investigation.

"If the hotel made mistakes or there were flaws in its security measures and services, it will be held accountable," Zhang said. "We are drafting an overall plan to build a credibility system within the tourism industry in Beijing. After it gets approval, there will be a blacklist of unqualified travel agencies, scenic spots and hotels."

Based on an industry regulation released by the China National Tourism Administration in July, travel service providers - including travel agencies, scenic spots and other tourism-related providers-found to have operational problems or to have violated tourists' interests, would get a black mark against them, and that information would be publicized for two years.

After the alleged incident was reported on Sunday, Wanwan received a flood of calls from the media. However, she only accepted interview requests from three media outlets on Wednesday and said she was disappointed with the hotel's apology statement in response to her complaint.

"The hotel only tried to communicate with me after my posts online attracted huge attention on Tuesday, and it only wanted to eliminate the negative influence and paid no attention to my feelings after the attack," Wanwan told China Central Television. "I came to Beijing as a tourist, so I could not have had anyone specifically targeting me for revenge. I chose the hotel because I believed in its brand. And this has made it even harder for me to accept how it has dealt with this incident."

Wanwan said she is not seeking financial compensation from the hotel.

"I simply want to defend my rights and I hope the hotel will pay much more attention to its management to avoid similar cases in future," she said.

Cao Yin contributed to this story.