After the death, the Travel Industry Council has now banned the practice of effectively locking tourists in shops to make them buy merchandise. Under the new rule, operators who force clients to visit shops will receive demerits or even lose their licence in more serious cases. More council inspectors will be deployed to enforce the new rule at shops frequented by tourists.

The changes are long overdue, but they do not go far enough. It defies common sense and decency for guides to impose enforced shopping on tourists under their care, but it is apparently a common practice. It can only be done in collusion with the shops. This high-pressure tactic must stop. Those suspected of it should be investigated by the police and the Independent Commission Against Corruption. It should be treated as a crime. Such exploitative tours must not be tolerated as they do great damage to our tourism industry. That is not to say Hong Kong should not have budget hotels and low-cost tours. As a premium tourist centre, it is necessary to have a wide range of services and tours. We need to attract different classes of tourists. But discount offers and services require greater oversight to make sure the business is above board and that they are not damaging Hong Kong's hard-earned brand as a must-see tourist destination in Asia. Tourists need to be properly protected - for the sake of our own economy and the tourism industry.

Part of the problem is also the lack of training and low qualifications of many tourist guides. This is highlighted by ill-informed guides who take tourists to visit the geopark off Sai Kung. It is already recognised as a national park and officials are working to raise its international status by having it recognised by Unesco as a natural heritage site. That requires qualified and properly trained guides, not the fly-by-night operators who have been found to know little about eco-tourism in general and geopark features in particular. At the very least, authorities need to make sure scientific information about geoparks and other eco-tourist sites is correct.

But this is only one incident concerning poorly informed guides. To ensure Hong Kong tourism stays ahead of competition from the mainland and other major Asian destinations, we need to upgrade the quality of guides generally. Tour guides who are better qualified and remunerated are more likely to take pride in their job and less inclined to exploit customers for short-term gains. It is time we worked to upgrade the profession so the conduct of guides reflects well on our tourism industry, which is the global face of Hong Kong.