Tour groups shafted in HK

Another Chinese mainland tour group has complained they spent a night trapped on a cruise ship and night on a bus during their tour of Hong Kong, following a news report on Friday saying a group of tourists from the mainland also had to sleep on their coach, the Nandu Daily reported Saturday.

The group of 25 tourists signed up for their tour of Hong Kong in Dongguan and Shenzhen in Southern China's Guangdong Province, said Liu Zhengjie, an employee with the Information Department of Dongguan Tourism Bureau, which is dealing with the incidents in cooperation with the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong.

Deng Guohua, and about 20 of his relatives, paid a travel agency in Dongguan 50,000 yuan ($8,025) for the tour and arrived in Hong Kong on Tuesday morning. The travel agency provided the group with accommodation onboard a cruise ship that was anchored offshore, instead of rooms in a three-star hotel as had been promised. The agency claimed no hotel rooms were available on Tuesday, said the report.

Not only were they not able to enjoy Hong Kong's nightlife, Deng said his group was stranded on the cruise ship Wednesday morning because no boat was provided to take them ashore. Deng was so angry that he thought of jumping into the sea.

The tour members then spent Wednesday night on a bus as all the rooms on the ship had been taken by other tourists. Deng and his group called the police Thursday, according to the report.

The Nandu Daily reported that Xuntong Travel Co arranged the tour, but a company manager, surnamed Zhu, told the Global Times it was not responsible for the debacle. Upon arrival in Hong Kong the tour group was handled by 3A Travel Co, the report said.

Another company with a similar name, 3A Holidays in Hong Kong said it didn't arrange for tourists to stay overnight on a cruise ship.

The Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong said that Deng's tourism group was serviced by 3A Travel, which is not registered in Hong Kong. The council has promised to complete its investigation into the incident within 15 days.

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