Chinese consumers urged to stop buying foreign goods in wake of Heathrow duty free ‘insult’
People’s Daily commentary says citizens should hit back at ‘business owners who are dishonest and do not respect the rule of law’
The official newspaper of China’s Communist Party has suggested Chinese consumers buy fewer foreign products as a way of expressing their upset at the discrimination Chinese tourists experienced at a duty free store in Britain’s Heathrow Airport.
In a commentary piece published on its website, People’s Daily said the airport should not only apologise to those affected, but also compensate them.
Both Heathrow and retail chain World Duty Free earlier apologised for the inequity of a scheme that offered shoppers who spent a certain amount discount vouchers against future purchases.
The initial row began after a salesman at the store revealed that Chinese tourists had to spend more than some other shoppers to be entitled to the discounts.
In a statement to the South China Morning Post on Tuesday, World Duty Free, which runs more than 500 stores in 20 countries, said it had investigated the voucher programme and taken “urgent steps to correct the implementation of this promotion”.