News from China National Tourism Administration is that China has formally promulgated and implemented its first Tourism Resource Protection Measure to strengthen the protection on tourism resources and promote the healthy, harmonious and sustainable development of the tourism industry.

The new measure says that travel destinations that hold tourist reception activities should make a regulation about safe running during the peak travel periods and announce the tourist flows and the maximum reception capacity of scenic spots.

Protecting tourism resources by setting up special funds has been formally recognized by the tourism department. The measure says that social entities and individuals are encouraged to set up tourism resource protection funds to protect tourism resources and any unit or individual must not use the fund for other purposes. But it says foreign organizations or individuals who want to set up tourism resource protection funds must first win approval from the Chinese government.

In order to analyze and solve problems of tourism resource protection in an objective manner, the new measure introduces a new concept of "protection and consulting expert team". Tourism administration departments at various levels in China's government must set up a "Tourism Resource Protection and Consulting Expert Team" and publish a tourism resource protection expert consulting report and make those results open to the public.