Cheap tours blamed for coerced shopping in Hong Kong: tourism experts

Unreasonably low prices offered by some mainland Chinese tourist groups visiting Hong Kong are a major factor behind coerced shopping, industry leaders have said, urging authorities to step up random inspections during the coming Labour Day “golden week” holiday.The Travel Industry Authority announced on Monday that it had previously revoked the licence of Star Link Travel over four suspected cases of coercing inbound mainland tourists to shop.Sara Leung Fong-yuen, a consultant with the Federation of Hong Kong Trade Unions in Tourism, condemned such cases on Tuesday, warning that they could harm the industry’s reputation and linking the problem to the growth of below-cost tour groups from the mainland.“It’s not surprising at all. Many tour groups are priced below cost, which already shows that coercing tourists into shopping is definitely happening,” Leung told a radio programme. “The real question is how they do it, whether through a soft or hardline approach.”She described the trend as rampant, noting that some mainland travel agencies had admitted tours priced at cost-recovery levels drew little interest from customers, making the problem difficult to eradicate.“Some one-day tours charge only HK$99 [US$12.64] or even HK$9.90, making it impossible to balance the books,” Leung said. “Some even claim that the tours are subsidised by tourism authorities.”Sara Leung says the suspected cases of coerced shopping could harm the industry’s reputation. Photo: Nora Tam