The Regulatory Body for Tourism
As for the whole industry of tourism, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China is a Chinese government authority responsible for the development of tourism in the country, which is subordinate to the State Council.
Leading Travel Agencies in China
China Travel Service
China Travel Service (CTS) is one of the largest travel agencies in China. It receives hundreds of thousands of tourists both at home and abroad. From the official site of CTS (http://www.ctsho.com/), you can start your plans of visiting, book theme tours, reserve tickets and customize your own tour to the attractions all over China.
China International Travel Service
China International Travel Service (CITS) is the largest and most powerful travel agency enterprise group in China, attracting and receiving more than 10 million overseas tourists. You can find concrete information on anything you need about the diversified tours both at home and abroad on the website of CITS (http://www.citstop.com/).
China Youth Travel Service
China Youth Travel Service (CYTS) offers service via its branch offices in many cities in China and its subordinate website (http://www.aoyou.com/).
Online Travel Alternatives
Thanks to the rapid development of network, tourists can have online travel agencies to arrange their whole journey. As an early practitioner of China’s tourism Internet industry, China Tour Net (http://www.cntour.cn/) has been committed to providing the most professional, rich and detailed tourism information and outdoor information for people around the world.
In recent years, Tuniu (http://www.tuniu.com/) becomes a quite popular website for tourists. Tuniu was founded in October, 2006. Advocating “make travel easier” as the mission, it provides consumers with booking service of all kinds of tourism products in 64 cities. With comprehensive products and transparent price, they offer telephone booking hotlines for 24 hours per day, 365 days all the year round and provide follow-up services and guarantee.
There are also websites like Mafengwo (http://www.mafengwo.cn/), which offers tour booking and individualized tourist guides uploaded by travel enthusiasts in China.
