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In an economic highly developed, with greatly improved living standards, and traffic well organized modern society, people will seek for the spiritual satisfaction. In such situation, tourism becomes one of important leisure activities, so as to widen the knowledge and adjust spirits. The tourism includes domestic and international activities. Except a self-service trip, most of the travelers make a tour contract with a tourist agency which provides an overall tour service. The tour service from the offer to termination often lasts from several days to several weeks. Generally, the services of a tourist agency include transportation, boarding, sightseeing, entertainment and guiding etc. Moreover, the above services are usually not provided by a tourist agency alone. And instead, they are provided by other associated operators such as hotels, restaurants, tour buses, managers, air carrier companies, public transportation companies and recreation firms etc. For this reason a tourist agency is unable to control every details, for instance, suddenly changing the tour course, failing to book or booking an uncomfortable room, supplying unwholesome meals, the delayed or cancelled flight, overselling the tickets, delayed baggage, unreasonably reducing or even cancelling part of the itinerary, delayed or broken tour bus, and encountering other force majeure events etc. This affects the tourist rights by causing damage to tourist's life, physical body or property. Such cases are greatly concerned by the travelers. In Taiwan, the Consumer Protection Law was published on Jan.11, 1994 in which the service liability of the business operators is stipulated. On Apr.21.1999, in the Civil Law Sec. 8-1 "Travel" was enacted legally and defines the right and liability of both sides of the tour contract. Meanwhile, in real life there are still many breaches of contracts due to a tourist agency. These lead to many disputes and suit cases. Travelers often are ignorant of claiming the service liability on the Consumer Protection Law. In order to clarify the obligation of a tourist agency so as to protect the rights of the consumer, the article firstly discuses the contract liability of a tourist agency, secondly investigates the domain of a standard tour contract, and thirdly analyzes a tourist agency service liability, then analyzes some lawsuits such as the obligations of auxiliary servant, scenery cancelled, the waste of time, force majeure events, and the damage compensation and the punitive damages concerning the death of the traverler. Finally the article presented the conclusion and suggestion by means of defining the domain of obligation of a tourist agency in order to provide a reference for the traveler to claim the legal right and for the judicial practice.
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