Hong Kong Jewellery Shop Suspended for Coercing Mainland Chinese Tourists

Hong Kong’s tourism watchdog has suspended a jewellery shop from receiving tour groups for 30 days after finding it failed to stop a guide from coercing mainland Chinese visitors into making purchases. The Travel Industry Authority (TIA) said on Tuesday that Kaiser Jewellery International would be barred from receiving any inbound tour group visitors from Wednesday until September 24. “The authority adopts a zero-tolerance approach towards coerced shopping and any conduct that damages the reputation of Hong Kong’s tourism industry,” it said in a statement. A check by the South China Morning Post found two locations operated by the company under the TIA’s list of registered shops, including one on the first floor of Hankow Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui trading as “KJI Super Mall”, and another location at Harbourside HQ in Kowloon Bay. The Kowloon Bay branch has been marked as “registration suspended”, though the company has filed an appeal for review and a hearing has been scheduled, according to the authority. The disciplinary action stemmed from a case involving a tour group from the mainland in February.