Hong Kong unveils tourist protection plans

The proposals include requiring Mainland travel agents organising tours and receiving travel agents in Hong Kong sign contracts clarifying the rights and responsibilities of each party.

The Commerce & Economic Development Bureau has tabled proposals to enhance consumer protection for Mainland tour groups.

Legislators were briefed on the plans on Monday, proposed by a Travel Industry Council task force to improve the regulation of Mainland inbound tours to Hong Kong. The move responds to reports of coerced shopping incidents involving Mainland tourists, according to a government report.

The task force noted the problem of "zero/negative reception fee" occurs predominantly in shopping tours. As sub-contracting and combining tours are common, some receiving travel agents may not receive fees adequate to cover the reception costs of the group tours. They might therefore need to find alternative ways to cover the cost, and this leads to coerced shopping.

The bureau said the proposals include requiring Mainland travel agents organising tours and receiving travel agents in Hong Kong sign contracts clarifying the rights and responsibilities of each party, introducing a demerit-point system for agents and requiring receiving agents to assign one tourist guide to accompany a Mainland inbound tour throughout its stay in Hong Kong to ensure service quality.

For the regulation of tourist guides, measures include requiring travel agents and tourist guides to sign designated agreements. Also, travel agents are required to pay tourist guides for the services provided, so they have a clear source of income and the introduction of a demerit-point system for tourist guides.

Other measures include regulation of registered shops, promoting consumer rights of Mainland inbound group travellers and enhancing inspections.