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Agencies warned not to commit Expo scam
By Lu Feiran |
July 9, 2010, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
SHANGHAI tourism authorities will shut down travel agencies and cancel business certificates of tour guides if either are caught scalping souvenir Expo passports or pavilion reservation tickets.
Such agencies and guides will be forbidden from re-entering the industry again, the Shanghai Tourism Administration said yesterday. Officials, however, added that no such cases have been reported yet.
Reservation tickets for pavilions are popular among Expo visitors. Such tickets for the China Pavilion are usually given out within 5 minutes of the Expo opening in the morning. Meanwhile, Expo passports are the most popular souvenir item.
The administration also said that travel agencies that hire unlicensed tour guides for Expo visitors will be fined up to 100,000 yuan (US$14,755). Unlicensed tour guides will be fined up to 10,000 yuan. Any illegal income will also be confiscated, the administration said.
Some tourists who have been to the Expo said that the guides they met were not familiar with the Expo site and were very unprofessional.
A tourist from Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, complained on the Internet that he and his fellow group members came with a tour guide who left them at the Expo and disappeared.
He and other group members had to spend hours looking for the tour guide.
"She didn't know where the entrance gate was and had to ask other tour guides," said the tourist who identified himself as Chen. "Her cell phone had been turned off when we called her."
The administration said tourists can complain to them if they meet unqualified tour guides, and officials will investigate such cases.
Such agencies and guides will be forbidden from re-entering the industry again, the Shanghai Tourism Administration said yesterday. Officials, however, added that no such cases have been reported yet.
Reservation tickets for pavilions are popular among Expo visitors. Such tickets for the China Pavilion are usually given out within 5 minutes of the Expo opening in the morning. Meanwhile, Expo passports are the most popular souvenir item.
The administration also said that travel agencies that hire unlicensed tour guides for Expo visitors will be fined up to 100,000 yuan (US$14,755). Unlicensed tour guides will be fined up to 10,000 yuan. Any illegal income will also be confiscated, the administration said.
Some tourists who have been to the Expo said that the guides they met were not familiar with the Expo site and were very unprofessional.
A tourist from Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, complained on the Internet that he and his fellow group members came with a tour guide who left them at the Expo and disappeared.
He and other group members had to spend hours looking for the tour guide.
"She didn't know where the entrance gate was and had to ask other tour guides," said the tourist who identified himself as Chen. "Her cell phone had been turned off when we called her."
The administration said tourists can complain to them if they meet unqualified tour guides, and officials will investigate such cases.
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