Tourism officials are scrambling to help 24 Filipino tourists abandoned on the group's arrival in Hong Kong, giving the visitors free city tours while urging Manila to investigate the travel scam.The tourists, who are civil servants from the southern Philippine province of Surigao, were stranded at the airport for six hours on Tuesday night after their supposed tour operator, Travel Connection-HK, failed to show up. The group realized the firm had given out a fake address and phone number.
Each individual had paid HK$4,000 for the five-day, four-night tour.
The Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, which is assisting the tourists, believes their travel agent in the Philippines might have defrauded them.
Lawmaker Paul Tse Wai-chun assisted the visitors, settling them at a To Kwa Wan hostel on Tuesday. They have since moved to a Tsuen Wan hotel for the rest of their stay.
One tourist, called Lucia, said she has no money with her, and thanked Hong Kong tourism officials for their support. "We don't have any more money to spend in Hong Kong," she said.
TIC chairman Michael Wu Siu-ieng named three Philippine agencies involved in arranging the trip: Nickel Travel and Tour Agency, MMP Travels and Tour, and San Pedro Travel Service.
MMP Travel's Melissa Plabon said she transferred some 158,000 Philippine pesos (HK$26,723) to a "Johnny Liu" as payment for hotel accommodation.
A San Pedro Travel spokeswoman said she was asked by Plabon on March 5 to book th
e hotel for the group, but she canceled after Plabon failed to pay.After the tourists' plight came to light, they were given free Macau ferry tickets and Disneyland admission tickets, and were asked to pay US$70 (HK$546) for their tour and accommodation, instead of the usual US$200.
The Tourism Board sponsored their lunch at The Peak yesterday as part of a city tour.
They are are set to go to Macau today and Disneyland tomorrow, before returning to the Philippines on Saturday.
"To show Hong Kong's hospitality, we have to [help] the tourists first," Wu said. "But we must charge them because we don't want to set a bad precedent for receiving stranded tours."
TIC executive director Joseph Tung Yao-chung called on the Philippine government to investigate the incident.
Philippine Vice Consul Val Roque said: "If this is indeed a case involving a tour operator, or an individual back home, then our investigators will be informed by the consulate to take action."
Tourism Board chairman James Tien said there should be better communications between the police and the board to help stranded tourists.
The Tourism Commission said it is highly concerned, and promises to improve its 24-hour report mechanism so that it can respond to similar incidents.
