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Vancouver Off-Topic / Current EventsThe off-topic forum for Vancouver, funnies, non-auto centered discussions, WORK SAFE. While the rules are more relaxed here, there are still rules. Please refer to sticky thread in this forum.
Chinese tourists have long been making their way to Hong Kong for their shopping trips, taking advantage of the lower tax rates on luxury items in Hong Kong. But a video has emerged of a Hong Kong tour guide going on a tirade of how her tour group of Chinese travelers are required to shop that threatens to undermine that so far amicable relationship.
Although the video itself isn't much to watch, in this undated clip, you do hear the tour guide, according to the Wall Street Journal, saying: “Spend more, you’ll be happier… don’t tell me you don’t need [to buy more], next you’ll be telling me you don’t need to eat at meal time. I will lock you out of your hotel rooms because you don’t need them [either].”
You have an odd situation where a great many outbound tour operators are breaking even or losing money until you factor in commissions for shopping.
— Guy Rubin, Imperial Tours in Beijing
The video has hit a nerve in mainland China. It is reported that Hong Kong guides make deals to guide mainland Chinese tourists toward expensive stores in exchange for a percentage of sales.
According to statistics reported in The Global Times, The Hong Kong Travel Industry Council received 173 complaints from mainland tourists between January 1 and May 15, 2010, an increase of 65 percent from the same period last year. Almost all of them related to shopping tourism, "particularly over forced shopping disputes," stated the Global Times article.
People have posted strong reactions to the video on YouTube and Tudou, reports Hong Kong’s The Standard newspaper, with one Chinese netizen attesting to the frequency this happens. “This video is a reality for mainland tourists in Hong Kong!”
Although the tactics might be a bit underhanded, the numbers of Chinese tourists going abroad are feeding many of these schemes.
Chinese travelers spend billions
According to the Financial Times, the number of Chinese tourists traveling abroad last year increased 5.2 percent to 42.2 million, up from less than 7 million in 2001. Not only are people traveling in mass, the Chinese are spending as they go. Total spending of Chinese tourists outside of mainland China rose 16 percent from 2008 to about US$42 billion in 2009.
Of these travelers, two thirds of them went to Hong Kong or Macau, intending to shop.
"You have an odd situation where a great many outbound tour operators are breaking even or losing money until you factor in commissions for shopping,” says Guy Rubin, managing partner at Imperial Tours in Beijing to the FT. “That means tours usually have to fit in sightseeing between visits to five shops a day."
Hong Kong travel advisory issued
Regardless of the numbers of Chinese tourists going to Hong Kong, the video has set off a wave of anger in China.
“The mainland has good tourist spots all over, why not just not go to Hong Kong?” asks one Chinese netizen in a comment on Youtube where the video was posted. Although one video will not take down the mainland-Hong Kong tourist industry -- especially because so many Chinese go to Hong Kong to shop to avoid China’s high tax on luxury goods -- this is the kind of language the Hong Kong Travel Industry Council would prefer to avoid.
China's National Tourism Administration is also getting involved, issuing an advisory on travel to Hong Kong due to this video.
With such a strong reaction from mainland China, the Hong Kong Travel Industry Council says, “We will find out who the female tour guide in the video is and punish her.” And it has pledged to “improve conditions for tourists.” Part one of this plan is the new “Code of Conduct for Tour Guides” that the Council’s official website says will come into effect as soon as this week.
I can't make out most of the words they are saying...
but I am surprised the chinese tourist are being bullied like that...
I dealt with a lot of mainland china customers, most of them are fierce, they have a big mouth and they are not afraid to use it no matter how embarrassing the situation is, and they are also very good at arguing....especially they older ones.
It is sad how HK has degraded to this level. 10 years ago it's the other way around. Now, HK stores sells fake shit to take advantage of Mainlanders. It's a real shame.
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It is sad how HK has degraded to this level. 10 years ago it's the other way around. Now, HK stores sells fake shit to take advantage of Mainlanders. It's a real shame.
Thats because those stores are run by mainlanders.
It is sad how HK has degraded to this level. 10 years ago it's the other way around. Now, HK stores sells fake shit to take advantage of Mainlanders. It's a real shame.
It's actually a two way streak. HK tourist visiting China through tours are subjected to the same things this very day. Last year, when my parents joined a HK tour to go into China, the tour guide pretty much forced them to only buy and eat at certain stores as the guides get commission. When they refused, they were pulled aside for a "discussion" with the tour guide and the store manager. The travel companies are not necessarily only targeting mainlanders. I think they target everyone.
Don't tour companies do this all the time? Not to this extreme but I've been on tours in Niagra, NYC and Hawaii where they stopped at expensive places for lunch and tourist shops... Niagra was the worst, we stopped at this restaurant and I heard a bunch of people complaining that the cheapest thing on the menu was the smoked salmon at $25.
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It's actually a two way streak. HK tourist visiting China through tours are subjected to the same things this very day. Last year, when my parents joined a HK tour to go into China, the tour guide pretty much forced them to only buy and eat at certain stores as the guides get commission. When they refused, they were pulled aside for a "discussion" with the tour guide and the store manager. The travel companies are not necessarily only targeting mainlanders. I think they target everyone.
the saying goes "two way street"
what do you mean by "discussion"?
i don't understand how the tour guides can force anyone to buy anything. who would really give a crap about someone else's commission
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organge7 has spoken, and we have done the opposite. yay!
im somewhat ashamed to be from hong kong, even mainlanders look down on us now.
Mainland Chinese are generally pretty nice people until you pull some stupid stunt like this to bring out the ugly side.
up until the point when a mainland family friend's child tells you that "mom said we go to Hong Kong when in fact we go back to China, and don't even go close to Hong Kong - I really don't get why she has to lie about it".
funny, since my family was discussing this very subject tonight. There are tours from China to Vancouver, and they put up the tourists really far out from the city, like down in Surrey close to the border. And of course, the tourists don't know any better! The tour guides take them to certain shops and places to shop, even making them buy ice wine that the own tour guide made! WTF!
Also, there was another tour group from China. Our family friend was going to meet her sister at the airport, since she was part of the tour group coming in. They ushered the group through the back of the airport, and she only had 5 minutes to see her sister!
So basically, they isolate the group, so that they don't know any better..
So yeah, beware of certain tours!
It's their own fault for going on stupid "tours" instead of being normal self-directed tourists anyway. You see them all over the world, herded around like sheep, moving swiftly from one landmark to the next, taking pictures not of the landmarks, but themselves standing in front of landmarks so they can go home and get lots of face for being so worldly. Then they are ushered off to the next spot, or to a store where they are forced to buy crap.
The only good thing about these tours is that they are in and out quickly, so you sometimes get the chance to stay in the area and soak in the atmosphere without noisy tour groups distracting you. That is until the next one comes along for their 5 minutes of yelling and squat-photo taking.
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