COMPLAINTS about tours to Hong Kong and Macao have dropped this year following the strengthening of ties between the mainland and the two special administrative regions’ tourism authorities, the Shenzhen Municipal Tourism Bureau said Tuesday.

But it highlighted two cases where the elderly in particular had suffered ill treatment during their visits, yesterday’s Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported.

In one case, two elderly tourists from Beijing, aged 73 and 66, were each asked to pay 500 yuan (US$65.79) more than other members of a tour group when signing up with a Shenzhen-based travel agency because of their poor purchasing power.

The two senior citizens were forced to shop at jewelry and duty-free shops during their visit to Hong Kong and Macao and were once forced back into one of the shops by the tour guide when they tried to get outside for some fresh air.

Members of the tour group stayed in Hong Kong for two days but spent a whole day shopping. Many tourist destination visits were canceled due to “lack of time,” according to the Daily report.

The report didn’t say when the two elderly people joined the tour group.

In another case, three elderly people, aged between 60 and 74, were abandoned on a Macao street in April by the tour guide who disappeared after distributing the ferry tickets.

At the same meeting aimed at regulating the tourism industry in Shenzhen, Li Xiaogan, director general of the municipal tourism bureau, also vowed a crackdown on unfair competition including the use of low fees to compete for customers.

Officials with the city’s tourism bureau said they will continue to strengthen cooperation with their counterparts in Hong Kong and Macao to ensure high-quality services are provided to travelers to the two cities.

Statistics from the Shenzhen Municipal Tourism Bureau showed that the number of complaints about the city’s travel agencies increased in the second quarter of this year compared to the same period last year. However, the number of complaints relating to Hong Kong and Macao tours dropped significantly, thanks to a joint campaign launched by Shenzhen and Hong Kong tourism authorities to “guarantee all tourists a pleasant visit to Hong Kong.”  (Eunice Kang)