A Hebei tourist yesterday said he would ask for claims on behalf
of 126 mainland tourists who were involved in a furious dispute
with Macao tour guides and police that eventually caused riot
police to be called in to calm the confusion.
Zhang Yajun, one of the tourists involved in the dispute, said
he would represent the mainlanders, all from Tangshan, Hebei
Province, to complain to the National Tourism Administration and
demand compensation from a Macao travel agency, China News Service
reported today.
Guides from the Macao Wanguo Youth Travel Agency were accused of
trying to force the mainlanders to pay for activities not on the
schedule and threatening to abandon them without food or
accommodation on December 4.
The mainlanders have already filed compensation demands to the
Macao travel agency, but received no reply, Zhang said, who's also
a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
of Tangshan, the report said.
About 30 armed riot police had been sent in to calm a furious
dispute between the mainlanders and their Macao guides, Macao
Daily News reported on December 6.
The dispute between the mainlanders and the Macao guides soon
escalated into an ugly fistfight and eventually involved about 30
armed riot police, who were brought in to calm the eight-hour
dispute, according to previous reports.
Four Macao tour guides involved in the dispute have been
punished and the Macao Wanguo Youth Travel Agency was banned from
the tour-guide business, according to the report.
The Tangshan Aviation International Travel Service Co, which
organized the mainlanders' Macao trip, said it welcomed the moves
but that it might not be enough to wrap up the case, the report
said.
The Macao tourism bureau reported the dispute to the National
Tourism Administration in Beijing on December 15.
(Shanghai Daily December 19, 2007)