Tourism chief apologises for hotel closure
Government seeks to limit fallout over the eviction of 100 guests
The government moved yesterday to limit the damage from Wednesday's abrupt closure of a Mong Kok budget hotel, with a red-faced tourism commissioner apologising for the eviction of tourists from the hotel.
But Au King-chi rejected calls for greater oversight of hotels and blamed poor communication among government departments for the embarrassing incident that threatened to damage Hong Kong's image in tourist markets.
'We feel very sorry for the inconvenience caused,' Miss Au said.
She called an emergency meeting yesterday with representatives from the Hong Kong Tourism Board, Travel Industry Council, Consumer Council, hotel and travel trades and the Home Affairs Department.
More than 100 guests were ordered to leave without notice after the Tatami Hampton Hotel was seized by the Bank of East Asia on a court order over an unpaid HK$80 million loan. Guests were from the mainland, Taiwan, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Denmark, Italy, Switzerland and Argentina.
The government became aware of the incident two or three hours after bailiffs forced the hotel to shut at about 5pm. Guests were offered free accommodation at the nearby Henry G. Leong Yau Ma Tei Community Centre but no one took up the offer.
Miss Au admitted that this arrangement was not ideal or appropriate but that she was trying to come up with a quick solution to a unique situation. Seeking to make amends quickly, she also announced free tours for affected guests.
'We also arranged for local tour companies to offer each of the tourists a half-day tour on Hong Kong Island as compensation,' she said.
Affected tourists who had already left Hong Kong would be informed of the offer and could enjoy it when they came again, she said. Such tours are valued at about HK$200 to HK$300.
But Miss Au denied there was insufficient monitoring of hotels.
'No matter how well they are regulated, there might be cases of hotels having financial difficulties. So what we need to do is put in place measures to minimise any possible impact to Hong Kong and to help the affected guests if similar cases occur in future,' she said. 'It is an unfortunate event as there has never been any Writ of Possession involving a hotel.'
Miss Au said that in future, if there were any similar court order, the judiciary would immediately contact the commission. 'Within one to two hours, we can set up a counter in the hotel. Providing assistance on the spot can be of great help to affected tourists.'
The judiciary, however, said it would be pleased to discuss the issue with the commission and consider any feasible proposals.
A counter staffed by the Tourism Board was opened outside the padlocked hotel yesterday and will remain until Sunday. Tourists would be informed of the availability of vacant hotel rooms with discounted rate nearby. Some hotels said they were offering affected guests free accommodation for one night.
The commission also contacted the Tatami Hampton to help arrange accommodation for guests still coming to the city.
Outgoing tourism lawmaker Howard Young said the incident was rare but would have a negative impact on the city's tourism industry.
Michael Li Hon-shing, executive director of the Federation of Hong Kong Hotel Owners, said: 'The hotel should have stopped accepting bookings when it knew of the financial dispute.'
