STARTING July 1, Hong Kong-based outbound travel agents will no longer be obliged to refund transport-related fees to consumers if package tours are cancelled due to reasons beyond their control, such as political unrest or natural disasters.
At the moment, agents have to refund airline, train and cruise booking fees in full to consumers, and are sometimes forced to absorb costs if suppliers like airlines, hotels and groundhandlers refuse to return the money.
Under the new ruling, agents will only be obliged to return the booking fees to consumers if their suppliers agree to the refund.
The decision approved on May 17 by the Board of Directors of Hong Kong’s Travel Industry Council (TIC) was in response to the string of recent incidents/disasters that caused heavy losses to tour agents’ businesses.
According to TIC, the political turmoil in Egypt earlier this year affected close to 1,500 tour group travellers.
TIC chairman, Michael Wu, said: “Though airlines eventually relented and forked out the refunds, agents still lost more than HK$2 million (US$257,000) because local hotels and groundhandlers refused to return the deposits.”
“Why should agents have to shoulder the responsibility and risk?” he asked.
According to Blue Sky Travel Service managing director, Angela Ng, Hong Kong travellers may now “avoid unstable countries”.
“Since airfares usually account for about 40 per cent of package tour prices, this new ruling might affect consumers’ choice of destination,” she said.
