Tourists demand payout for short wait
Mainlanders ask for 3,000 yuan and extra nights to make up for small bus and delay
Members of a mainland tour group demanded 3,000 yuan compensation each and an extra three nights' stay from a Hong Kong tour agency, saying they lost about an hour waiting for a coach.
The demand from the 11-person group came after they refused to continue the tour because of conflict with the agency, Million Dragon International Travel Company.
The company said their demands were unreasonable, but later reached an undisclosed settlement with the tourists.
The group, from Liaoning province, Hunan province and Xian city, paid 3,000 yuan (HK$3,700) each to join the five-day tour to Hong Kong and Macau.
The row blew up after the agency asked the tourists to get up early yesterday for a coach that turned out to be too small to fit them all in, one group member said. The tourist, from Liaoning, said they had to wait an hour for another coach.
Not happy with the service, the 11 people - who were to have gone to Macau - refused to leave their hotel and called the police and the Travel Industry Council.
"I felt very uncomfortable," the Liaoning tourist said, in tears. "There is rule of law in Hong Kong. [The tour agency] wants us to be punctual and scolds us if we are not. But they aren't punctual. Is that honest behaviour?"