HK shops losing lustre for Chinese tourists
(AFP)
Updated: 2006-10-08 16:17
Hong Kong, which prides itself as a shopper's paradise, is losing its sheen
with mainland tourists, who have complained about shops in record numbers,
a report said.
The revelations come as latest tourist figures for China's Mid-Autumn Golden
Week holiday -- one of the peak tourist seasons here -- showed that the number
of visitors from the mainland had fallen 10 percent.
Meanwhile, the number of mainlanders visiting neighbouring casino city
Macau SARS during the week-long holiday has risen 15 percent and outstrips Hong
Kong by almost four to one.
The Hong Kong Travel Industry Council trade group said that in the first
eight months of the year it had received 400 complaints from mainland
tourists about poor treatment in the city's shops -- up 30 percent on the whole
of 2005, the Sunday Morning Post reported.
The report failed to detail of any of the complaints.
The council also said there had been an increase in complaints against travel
guides, the most common of which were accusations that they had forced tourists
to go shopping too often.
This follows a crackdown on tour guides taking kickbacks from stores to bring
in more tourist customers.
"It is a worrying situation, and it is certain we will address it in a
serious manner," the council's executive director Joseph Tung was quoted as
saying.
Hong Kong is facing a serious challenge to its status as one of the world's
most popular tourist destinations.
Although last year it recorded a record 25 million visitors -- Asia's second
highest after mainland -- monthly figures this year suggest that may be
tailing off.
Chronic pollution, scandals at its premier attraction, Hong Kong Disneyland,
and rising store prices are denting its image overseas.
|
