Wake-up call for tourism chief

It's downright outrageous for a mainland tourist to suffer a heart attack and die following an argument with a "tour guide" during a forced shopping stop.

And the subsequent revelation that the "guide" was in fact bogus is equally disturbing. Is our tourism sector seriously ill?

The government has demanded the Travel Industry Council treat the case in the most serious manner, while the public also expects the TIC to show it's a credible industry regulator.

The possibility of the Hong Kong firm involved - Win's Travel Agency - being de-registered, or having its license revoked following the investigation, hasn't been ruled out.

According to the daughter of the deceased, Chen Youming, her father had paid 1,700 yuan (HK$1,940) to join the four-day tour. The group arrived in Hong Kong on May 21, and on the first day visited Ocean Park, The Peak, Golden Bauhinia Square, Repulse Bay and the Avenue of Stars.

The next day, the mainlanders were led to a jewelry shop. Chen, 65, a former national table tennis coach, collapsed after reportedly quarreling with the bogus guide, who allegedly refused to allow him to leave the store.

The Hunan resident died en route to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, and Chen's family brought the matter to the TIC's attention on May 24.

Queries were raised about the council not publicizing the case until June 1, but it was likely respecting the family's wish to keep the case low- profile.

But there is certainly cause for concern in the way the authorities have been communicating with each other.

Tourism is a major economic pillar here, and both the TIC and Hong Kong Tourism Board are seen as important bodies safeguarding this pillar. It's only reasonable to expect them to communicate on major issues. Did they do so in this grave incident? Apparently, not.

Board chairman James Tien Pei- chun was the last key tourism official in Hong Kong to issue a statement after returning from Shanghai. He said he learned about the case when he was in Shanghai promoting the SAR to mainlanders. Tien said as soon as he became aware of the incident, he immediately contacted the TIC to find out more about it.

This isn't the first time there has been a breakdown in communication between government bodies. Last November, a row broke out between Tien and organizers of the East Asian Games over ticket allocation. At that time, Tien complained about a lack of tickets being reserved for HKTB to use in promoting the games overseas. But the event organizers retorted he was mistaken because the travel industry was asked back last June how many tickets it wanted to reserve for the December event.

I already warned at that time there had to be closer communication between the tourism board and government bodies at the working level.

Last year, the lack of communication cost Hong Kong a golden opportunity to promote itself to other countries with the help of the East Asian Games.

Perhaps, we haven't yet seen the cost of the latest communication breakdown. The situation is always dicey if our chief tourism ambassador is the last person to know about important matters.