Tour guides are threatening a walkout against a proposed overhaul of how they handle inbound mainland tour groups. The reform is intended to crack down on rogue guides.
With the peak Lunar New Year holiday period approaching, the guides and their union leaders are at loggerheads with the Travel Industry Council and its reform proposal.
At the heart of the stand-off is a plan to impose a 'one-tour, one-guide' policy - something tour guides who make their living from leading mainland tour groups fear will drastically hurt their earnings.
The measure is part of plans by the council to clean up the city's tourism image following a number of embarrassing incidents over the treatment of mainland tour groups.
Hong Kong Tour Guides General Union members are threatening to gather around the council premises if the council does not satisfactorily address their concerns by Thursday.
'Under the council's plan, we would have to stay with one tour group, effectively halving our income,' the union's director, Wu Kwok-wah, said.
From February 1, the council will require a guide who escorts mainland tour groups during the shopping and sightseeing parts of an itinerary to stay on until the tour group returns home.
