Buqueduojie, a shepherd in Northwest China's Qinghai Province, was the first member of his family to travel. He paid 3,000 yuan (US$375) the price of 13 sheep for a package tour to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. When he returned home, his family were excited to know everything about his trip, and Buqueduojie told them, except for one part.

Some edgy mainland tourists wait outside a jewellery shop in Hong Kong in May, waiting the others from their group who are shopping in the store. The tour group was told to spend at least HK$1,000 (US$129) per person in the shop, otherwise the travel agency would not pay for their dinner and accommodation. [China Daily]

That was the part about being stranded. Their local guide abandoned Buqueduojie's tour group on a Hong Kong wharf for more than an hour. Why? Apparently they had not bought enough on the shopping part of the excursion to generate a profit for the guide.

The incident produced a public outcry when the story broke in the Hong Kong media. Tourism Board Chairwoman Selina Chow Liang Shuk-yee said Hong Kong's reputation had been tarnished.

The Travel Industry Council, after an emergency meeting on October 16, issued a formal apology. The tour guide was suspended, and the council sent a letter to the travel agency demanding an explanation and threatening a heavier penalty.

So, justice was served. Or was it?

"We were made scapegoats," Wong Ka-hoi, chairman of the Hong Kong Tour Guides General Union, said at an October 23 press conference to the applause of 300 tour guides in attendance.

The real problem, he asserted, is "zero-fee" tours.

Zero fee?

In short, a zero-fee tour is a cut-rate package tour that charges the tourists less than the basic cost of transport, accommodation and attraction tickets.

For example, a four-day, three-night package to tour Hong Kong - with return air tickets, accommodation at a four-star hotel, two meals a day, coach transport plus a ticket to Ocean Park included sells for only 888 yuan (US$112) in Shanghai.

How can this be possible when the airfare alone is about double that price? The answer lies in the commissions that travel agencies earn when tourists shop at certain stores and pay for attractions not covered by the package.

The zero-fee package was introduced in Hong Kong during the 2003 SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) period, when tourist arrivals plummeted to historic lows. To compete for customers, tour agencies use low fees as bait, making money through the murky kickback system.

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