The Guangdong Provincial Supervisory Bureau of Tourism Quality and the Guangdong Tourism Association say that a new standard, which is designed for luxury travel groups, will be formally issued during the upcoming October holiday.

Guangdong SBTQ and Guangdong Tourism Association said they began crafting the standard six months ago and now they are collecting opinions from each travel agency in the province. The purpose of the standard is to bring order to the tourism market and protect consumers' interests.

The new standard will have detailed rules for the domestic travel market, and for outbound trips will include rules for trips to Europe, Australia, Japan and Korea.

Liao Guoqiang, director of Guangdong SBTQ, says that the new standard focuses on issues such as lodging, food, transportation, travel content, shopping and guides. Tourists in the future will be able to report to the tourism department if their travel agency has not reached the stated standard in providing a particular travel service.