According to a recently released report on China's global study tour industry, Chinese citizens participated in more than 860,000 global study tours in 2017. The momentum is expected to continue with the number set to reach 1.05 million in 2018. Calculated at 25,500 yuan ($4,000) per person for every trip, the market was valued at 21.9 billion yuan ($3.5 billion) last year.

It is a great idea to send children abroad to expand their minds through global study tour programs, where they can also learn to be independent and work together with other students. However, China still falls short of systematic and standard norms to navigate this industry, which has led to concerns.

For example, some educational institutions provide only common foreign trips to students in the guise of study tours. These superficial trips offer much less academic and cultural content than is claimed. In some extreme cases, organizers even use unlicensed buses and tourist guides and offer low-quality meals so as to maximize their profit margin, which, of course, poses risks to young students.

Global study tours must be brought under supervision and guided by the standards and rules of the tourism sector. The government needs to roll out relevant laws and regulations to protect minors.