Owners hurt by illegal operators who pay no licence fees and are stealing mainland customers
Unlicensed guest houses are taking as much as 40 per cent of the mainland market from registered guest houses, whose owners complain this year's 'golden week' has been flat due to the illegal operations.
The Tourist Guesthouse Federation of Hong Kong says government controls are lax. It has called on the Tourism Development Council to do more to direct visitors to licensed guest houses.
Federation chairman Sam Lau Kung-shing, who owns four guest houses, said that while his rooms were 90 per cent full this week, mainlanders accounted for only 15 per cent of the occupancy rate, little more than on average days and roughly the same as last year.
'Some mainland tourists are introduced through their relatives to fellow villagers' clubs with simple accommodation facilities which either don't have a proper guest house licence or are illegal guest houses in residential flats,' Mr Lau said.
'Now the impact of mainland tourists is fading, which is especially significant during this 'golden week', before we have really gained from the individual visit scheme,' he said, referring to the scheme in place since 2003 that makes it easier for mainland residents to travel.
The 70-member federation wants the tourism council to promote licensed guest houses by, for example, publishing information about them in brochures.