After that customary welcome messages in different language and seemingly genuine smiles from some tourist guides as they introduce themselves to unsuspecting visitors, the reality sets in for tourists on what the city could be all about.
Hong Kong has been visited by 29.5 million visitors in 2009, more than four times its population. While many tourists arrive and tour around independently, a large portion still relies on organized tours, notably from mainland China. Despite sometimes questionable behavior in public — cutting in the queue, sitting in prohibited areas or smoking manners — mainland Chinese visitors are now coveted by shops mainly because of their financial clout. They have come to the right place indeed, for Hong Kong is known as the shopping destination of choice.
The emergence of higher purchasing power by the mainland Chinese tourists has become subject of abuse by unscrupulous tourist guides who literally take Hong Kong’s moniker as a priority to-do rather than show these strangers the vibrant and diverse nature of the city. These tourist guides may have fooled a few but definitely not all. And one of them got out of the way to document such experience for everyone to witness.
Recently, a video circulated about a tour guide nicknamed Ah Zhen insulting her clients inside a tourist bus for not spending enough. She told members of a tour group that “it’s OK to be poor at home” but not in Hong Kong. The video didn’t only surface on video portals on the Web, but also found its way to more than a dozen television channels such as in Guizhou, Liaoning and Guangdong. Think about a better way to discourage the largest market in the world from coming to Hong Kong!
The guide in the video clip further let out her rant, “It’s you who owe me here, not me owing you. I provided you with food and accommodation but you people will not give.”
If you don’t repay the debt in this life you will have to repay it in your next life.” She adds: “It’s OK to be poor at home, but you can’t act like this when you are outside. Don’t tell me you don’t need [the jewellery], I say you don’t need to eat either. Tonight I will lock all hotel room doors, because you don’t need accommodation.”
“We don’t do this for charity. Let me be responsible for charity. I donated 10,500 yuan [HK$12,027] for Sichuan earthquke victims.” She also points out shops that offer high-quality goods before asking “Why did you bother to come to Hong Kong?” and lamented that the group was nothing compared to another group, which spent HK$137,000 together.
“For a group of 24 people you only just spent HK$13,000. How can you just walk out of the shop like that?”
If that’s not bad enough, a mainland tourist even died of heart attack in May after an argument with an unlicensed guide who refused to let him leave a jewelry shop. Last month, four mainland tourists had to buy their one-way ticket home after refusing to pay 2,000 yuan as a penalty for skipping a tour’s shopping itinerary.
The video created outrage on the web, often laced with threats. One poster commented, “The mainland has good tourist spots all over, why not just not go to Hong Kong”. Yes indeed, why bother going to Hong Kong only to be reviled by tourist guides for being thrifty when there are kinder souls waiting to entertain you inside the border?
Obviously, this is not what our tourism officials would like to preach when inviting tourists to visit Hong Kong.
With full of multilingual guide books, maps, and indirect guides in the form of sales ladies, MTR staff or bus drivers, tourists don’t necessarily need to be pampered by tourist guides zealous about how much you spend rather than how much you enjoy. But maybe in the case of mainland tourists it’s a bit different; association with tourist guides is necessary. In fairness to dedicated guides, it’s unfair to ignore their services. Elderly travelers, tourists who need translators and other special requirements depend on guides for a worthy visit. It’s only those few unscrupulous ones that tarnish the reputation of the travel industry.
Too bad, authorities have to resort on espionage to capture these offending guides. Undercover agents will pose as tourists will start checking these bad behaviors. I imagine that must be a boring job, but needs to be done.
