Tour group fumes over camp beds
Mainlanders expected hotels on six-day trip for 1,600 yuan
Six days in Hong Kong and Macau for just 1,600 yuan with hotel accommodation. If this sounds too good to be true, a group of 200 angry mainland visitors found out yesterday that it is.
The children's dance and music troupe, accompanied by parents and teachers, arrived on Wednesday for a competition during the 'golden week' holiday. They were driven to Yuen Long to take part in the Fifth Golden Bauhinia Youngsters' Music Dance International Competition Hong Kong, which featured another 300 to 400 participants.
Trouble started shortly after midnight yesterday when they were taken to Sai Kung's High Island Training Camp, a facility run by Hong Kong Adventure Corps, instead of a hotel.
The tour group, with members mainly from Shanghai and Inner Mongolia , complained of a bad smell and bed bugs in the rooms and stained pillows and mattresses.
They confronted camp staff and the agency that organised the trip, Shenzhen Tourism International Company, then called police - and an ambulance, because some group members had insect bites. But the company said the competition organiser, Chinese Nation's Culture & Arts International Federation, had booked the camping facility.
'They took us to the camp, said it would be wonderful, but it was completely different from what we had expected,' a Ms Sun from the group said. But a teenage girl said she did not mind. 'I don't feel sick. I feel good [about the camp].'
Adventure Corps commandant Joe Pau said it was possible insects had been attracted by lights and flown into the rooms. 'They were expecting hotel-quality service but we are a training camp... We've never received any complaints as a training camp but this has really damaged our reputation,' Mr Pau said.
The disgruntled guests left between 8am and 9am yesterday after being promised accommodation at the Harbour Plaza Resort City in Tin Shui Wai and Newton Place Hotel in Kwun Tong, he said.
Travel Industry Council executive director Joseph Tung Yao-chung said he had referred the case to Shenzhen authorities since the accommodation appeared to have been arranged by Shenzhen Tourism International and that its Hong Kong partner, Golden Sunshine International Travel Services, was not responsible.
The incident is the latest in a string of disputes arising from cheap and substandard tours to Hong Kong.
Shenzhen Tourism International said the group had been told they would be staying in a camp. A spokesman said International Chinese Art Association and Chinese Nation's Culture & Arts International Federation had arranged the accommodation. 'We just arranged where to visit and have meals,' he said. But the federation said it had nothing to do with accommodation.
Polytechnic University associate professor of tourism John Ap said the incident went to the root of the problem of low-price tours skimping on costs through substandard accommodation.
The Consumer Council received 385 complaints in the first three months of the year.
