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SCMP Reporter

A mainland woman is facing punishment by the Shenzhen authorities over her alleged involvement in a package tour scandal exposed by the state-run China Central Television  last month.

A Shenzhen travel agency, also reported to be connected to the scandal, has been banned from operating tours to Hong Kong for 15 days and fined 10,000 yuan.

The Southern Metropolis Daily yesterday said the crackdown by Shenzhen authorities followed a CCTV programme on unscrupulous practices used by some mainland travel firms.

Three reporters from the television station signed up in Shenzhen for a tour to Hong Kong as part of an  expose on the tour industry.

The reporters and other tour members were encouraged to buy jewellery and watches at various shops. But tests cast doubt on the  gold and gem content of a pendant  as claimed by the shop where it was bought.

A watch purchased at another shop was not a model carried by the alleged manufacturer.

City authorities are cracking down on shops that the CCTV programme exposed as selling the goods to mainland tourists.

The  report said the Shenzhen Tourism Bureau had located the tour agent, Liao Xiaomin, who worked at the business centre of Jinze Guesthouse in Shenzhen and was not licensed to sell tour tickets.

Ms Liao had sold three Hong Kong tour tickets to the CCTV reporters for 1,200 yuan each. She claimed she was a staff member of the Shenzhen Overseas International Travel Service and issued one of the agency's official receipts to the reporters.

But the reporters were then referred to Hong Kong travel agency Joy Empire Travel, to whom Ms Liao paid 950 yuan for each tour member she referred, the newspaper report said.

During a subsequent probe,Shenzhen Overseas International Travel Service admitted that  Ms Liao was not on its staff but a person the firm used to  sell tours.

The company claimed it did not know she had referred its clients to another travel company, the Southern Metropolis Daily report said.

Shenzhen Tourism Bureau deputy director Yi Nengquan, who has led the investigation, was quoted as saying the authorities were determined to crack down on such illegal practices.

The newspaper said Shenzhen Overseas International Travel Service had been banned from operating tours to Hong Kong for 15 days and fined 10,000 yuan.

Ms Liao and the guesthouse that had allowed her to solicit travel business were under investigation  and may be punished according to relevant regulations, the newspaper said.

The Hong Kong Tourism Board  said it was aware of the probe.

Travel Industry Council executive director Joseph Tung Yao-chung  said he welcomed the crackdown and warned of possible penalties for Joy Empire Travel.



Agents who sent reporters on scam tour face penalties