Video Footage Of “Forced Shopping” In Hong Kong Angers China

July 20th, 2010 - 7:23 pm ICT by GD  

By Ranjan Bhaduri
nathan-rdHong Kong, July 20, (THAINDIAN NEWS) The supermarkets in Hong Kong attract a lot of foreign tourists all over the year and most of them are Chinese descendants. The Chinese shoppers eye these supermarkets owing to the low tax rates they get on the luxurious items there. A video that has sparked mass outrage in China is now out in the web which shows a Hong Kong tour guide misleading Chinese tourists and forcing them to shop. The popular theory is that the tour guides in Hong Kong take the Chinese tourists mostly to the expensive stores for getting a percentage from the profits these stores make.

In 2010 the complaints from the Chinese tourist about the habits of Hong Kong tourist guides have increased. More than 170 complaints have been lodged in the first half of 2010. The YouTube video depicting the forced shopping has resulted in a mass uproar in China. The video has also prompted the National Tourism Administration of China to issue a Hong Kong Travel advisory. The incident has left the Hong Kong tourism authority red faced which earlier promised to implement stricter rules to curb the menace of the tour guides.

The tour guides in Hong Kong allegedly target the elderly and unsuspecting Chinese tourists. They reportedly try to persuade the tourists to buy stuffs from the expensive shops in the Hong Kong supermarkets and earn good profit in exchange. The video does not show much violence but the words one gets to hear in it are quite shocking. The video may leave an impact on the Chinese travelers who used to like Hong Kong as a shopping destination.

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