Tour agency's closure hits 1,000 travellers
Dreams of taking a break on the mainland turned into a nightmare when a tour agency's closure left 1,000 people out of pocket.
Ideal Holiday, which had branches in Kwun Tong, Tuen Mun and Yuen Long, closed down yesterday. Some 600 travellers had booked a two-day visit to Guangdong and 400 were due to take day trips to Shenzhen with the company, said Joseph Tung Yao-chung, Travel Industry Council executive director.
While those who booked the two-day trip will get up to 90 per cent of their money back from the Travel Industry Compensation Fund, those on day trips may get nothing. Travellers pay into the fund a levy of 0.15 per cent of the cost of their package, but day trips are generally not covered.
'We are pushing Ideal Holiday to repay them [the 400 people] as much as possible,' Tung said. 'The agency promised us it would contact those involved by Friday.'
The company, which opened in November, organised short tours and day trips to Guangdong. It had collected up to HK$300,000 for tours that will not now take place.
About 10 people, most of them elderly, visited the company's Kwun Tong office yesterday morning, said Kaven Wong, who runs a shop nearby. They called the police after seeing that it was closed.
One man turned up who had paid HK$1,200 for two tours, including a trip to Zhongshan city, for which tourists were supposed to meet their guide in Shenzhen.
'I found out the agency had closed only after I arrived in Shenzhen,' he said.
A couple said they had grown suspicious when they booked their two-day tour on Friday. Hefty discounts were offered: tour prices fell from HK$600 to about HK$300.
A woman who joined a two-day tour to Zhaoqing city on Tuesday said she had also experienced problems. 'No tour bus picked us up in Kwun Tong and we could not reach the tour guide,' she said. 'After getting in touch with the company's manager, we ended up taking a taxi to the Shenzhen border on our own.'
The company had promised to repay the HK$270 fare, but when she arrived at the office yesterday, she found it closed.
Paul Tse Wai-chun, tourism sector lawmaker, urged the government to extend the tour levy to day trips. Under existing regulations, tours covered by the levy must offer two of three criteria: transport from Hong Kong, accommodation and organised activities. Bus trips to attractions are not considered 'transport' under the rules, meaning many day trips are not covered by the levy.
Tse said the appreciation of the yuan and May's introduction of a minimum wage in Hong Kong had put pressure on tour companies, but he did not expect a wave of closures.
The compensation fund can be contacted on 3151 7945.
