Hong Kong leader John Lee demands better crowd control amid complaints against low-cost tour groups from mainland China
- John Lee weighs in on issue of tourists eating on streets and packing residential areas
- Travel authorities have tasked agencies to stagger meal times for tourists, as well as for restaurants serving tours to implement booking system
Hong Kong’s leader has told officials to better manage crowds amid complaints about low-cost tour groups from mainland China, with residents voicing unhappiness over visitors gathering and eating takeaway meals in densely populated areas.
He revealed he had tasked the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau and Travel Industry Authority with managing the tours’ impact on traffic congestion.
Hong Kong tourism chief vows tougher curbs amid complaints against tour groups
“They should work hard to plan, come up with measures and systems so tourists will have a good experience, and problems brought to the community can be resolved,” he said.
With quarantine-free travel between Hong Kong and the mainland restored since February, tour groups from across the border have returned to the city in large numbers. This has resulted in visitors crowding streets in Hung Hom, Kowloon City and To Kwa Wan.
The tourists are ferried in coaches to the districts for shopping at stores catering to them. Their presence after a three-year lull has sparked complaints of noise disturbance and hygiene issues from residents.
The Post observed on Monday that residential areas in To Kwa Wan were the most affected, with tourists at times spilling onto the streets while queuing for meals or to board coaches.
Annie Fonda, executive director of the Travel Industry Authority, said organisers had been asked to stagger meal times for tour groups. Other stakeholders in the matter have also been advised, according to her.
“We will also say to these restaurants that you must make bookings. If you do not make bookings and there is no system, then people will all just be on the street waiting,” Fonda told a radio programme on Tuesday.
“Frankly, the places in Kowloon City and To Kwa Wan are very limited, there are only two restaurants serving tour groups.
“The industry has said tours want to go to areas that are relatively quiet or where the roads will have more space to allow them to park coaches, so they will not have a crowd and affect residents in other areas.”
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Fonda also addressed an incident in which a mainland tour group was spotted eating meals on the street, saying such cases “did not look good”, but the authority had not received any complaints and the agency involved promised better arrangements.
She said the authority had contacted the travel agency in question for an investigation, and its representatives explained that some elderly members had said they were really hungry while waiting for meals at a restaurant for 10 to 15 minutes, as there was no proper coordination.
“They then changed to a place offering ‘two side-dish rice’ to buy lunch,” she said, referring to a type of Chinese fast food.
“Actually, there are a few places over there that you can sit at, but you know that there are a lot of tour members. So, they were too hungry and just ate on the street.”
Following the lifting of Covid curbs late last year, visitor arrivals to Hong Kong more than doubled from 498,689 in January to 1.46 million last month – the first time the monthly figure crossed 1 million since the pandemic struck in early 2020.
Of last month’s arrivals, 1.1 million were from the mainland, four times more than the 280,525 who came in January.
Additional reporting by Lilian Cheng
