The Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong recently reported that it had received 134 complaints about tour guide in the first 10 months of 2010. This is 45.6% more than the 92 complaints reported in 2009.

The TIC said that of the total, 67 of the complaints were related to attitude and 64 were related to disputes over forced shopping.

In the first half of this 2010, TIC had witnessed a growing number of complaints about tour guides from mainland visitors. In June, TIC set up the "Task Force on the Review of the Operation and Regulation of Mainland Inbound Group Tours" to examine the arrangements for receiving inbound tour groups from mainland China, with a special focus on the question of zero or negative reception fees and regulation of tourist guides.

In early October, the Task Force submitted its review report with 10 proposed measures to the Hong Kong SAR Government. The implementation of those measures are expected to take effect in early 2011.

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