Society

Paying the price for a Hong Kong tour

By Guo Jiaxue (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-08-12 08:26

Economic development chief Lau has stressed more than once in recent weeks that the SAR government has no intention of intervening with travel agency pricing, based on the principle of free market.

However, five agreements finalized on July 31 between the mainland and the SAR include strengthening the management of tours, increasing transparency and providing better information to tourists, and enhancing the process of passenger complaints.

Shenzhen travel agency manager Elaine said she believes it will be very hard to change the current situation.

"These tours are still running," she said. "Nothing has changed (since the video came to light). Our company still has about 20 tour groups heading to Hong Kong every day. There are sellers and there are buyers. That's how the market works. There will always be people who would prefer to spend just 600 yuan ($90) visiting Hong Kong instead of 4,000 yuan."

She added that on top of the fact many people are poor, some Chinese still see traveling as simply taking pictures to prove they have been somewhere.

Song Haiyan, associate director of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University's school of hotel and tourism management, said the demand for zero-cost packages, which began in the late 1980s, shows the outbound market's relative immaturity.

"Income levels vary on the mainland," he said. "Low-income people also want to travel and some think that if they just keep on insisting that they will not buy they'll be fine."

He added that he is confident the poorer tours will disappear as the market matures and salaries continue to grow.

As a compromise to banning low- and no-cost tours, the TGGU has suggested the government reinstate the Aug 1 Agreement, which was signed in 2006 and ensures tour guides get basic salaries and a service fee of HK$25 per tourist per day.

"The complaints about forced shopping dropped to almost none until the first half of 2008," said Wong. "But after that about 90 percent of (the city's) travel agencies dropped it. The agreement was not legally binding."

"In a healthy industry, tour guides should promote goods and not do the hard sell. Commission should just be an added bonus," he added.

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