Macau Government Tourist Office is concerned with the tourism disputes which occurred recently and will meet with the local tourism sector to learn about the situation and notify the Mainland tourism authorities. Another incident of visitor complaint took place yesterday and according to preliminary investigations by MGTO, a Mainland tour group of 19 people arrived Macau in the morning and were distributed the day's itinerary by the local tour guide. In the evening, the tour group requested to stay in a hotel in Macau and started an argument with the tour guide who informed them that the itinerary did not include accommodation in Macau. Members of the tour group then complained about the attitude of the tour guide and demanded Macau's travel agency to pay a compensation of MOP5,000 each, which was then lowered to MOP1,000. In the course of the dispute, the tour group missed the border crossing time, and eventually the travel agency arranged for them to stay in a hotel in Macau and paid MOP300 to each visitor, who finally agreed to leave for the hotel. The visitors refused to fill in a complaint form requested by MGTO who was assisting at the site. The visitors also could not concretely explain the attitude of the tour guide whom they were complaining against. MGTO noticed that recent tourism disputes mainly involved discrepancies between the itineraries of the Mainland tour operators and Macau travel agencies. For instance, the itinerary agreed between the Mainland tour operator and the local travel agency did not include accommodation in Macau, while the itinerary given to the visitors by the Mainland tour operator stated an overnight stay in Macau. Some cases involved Mainland visitors joining tour groups by way of discount vouchers obtained from shopping in the Mainland. MGTO is aware of this new issue and will meet with local tourism organizations to discuss the problem, while at the same time notify the Mainland tourism authorities to exchange views on ways to combat this new situation. MGTO urges the travel trade in Macau to observe the "Key points for Contracts between Travel Agencies and Tour Operators Handling Mainland Tour Groups to Macau", be attentive to service quality and strictly comply with regulations when receiving tour groups, so as to uphold the image of Macau as a tourism destination and realize the goal of building Macau into a World Center of Tourism and Leisure.
