Forcing tourists to shop is not a trivial matter

LI YUN, a tour guide, was sentenced to six months in prison because he forced tourists to buy things from a shop from which he received kick backs. Legal Daily comments:

According to reports, the local court of Jinghong, Southwest China's Yunnan province, found that Li forced eight tourists in his group to buy things at a shop in December by using verbal abuse and threatening to withhold their hotel room cards. The eight tourists bought goods worth 15,156 yuan ($2,354) from the shop.

Li was sentenced to six months in prison and fined 2,000 yuan. Before this, tour guides, who forced tourists to shop, were only subject to administrative penalties, including giving tourists refunds, cancellation of their tour guide permits and financial penalties.