THAILAND-BLAST/HONG KONG TOURISM Hong Kong cancels tours to Bangkok following blast

Record ID: 143447

  • Title: THAILAND-BLAST/HONG KONG TOURISM Hong Kong cancels tours to Bangkok following blast
  • Date: 18th August 2015
  • Summary: HONG KONG, CHINA (FILE - JUNE 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MIRIMAR TRAVEL AGENCY VARIOUS OF COUPLE SPEAKING TO TRAVEL AGENT VARIOUS OF DESTINATIONS BEING ADVERTISED TOURISTS WALKING PAST TRAVEL AGENCY
  • Embargoed: 2nd September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVABHS77WYTTQQJ8FOAP40O30QJI
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Hong Kong's Tourism Council cancelled all tours to Bangkok on Tuesday (August 18), after a blast killed 22 people in the Thai capital, including two Hong Kong tourists.
    The Council's Chief Executive, Joseph Tung, said he had met with tour group agents after the Hong Kong government raised the travel warning to Bangkok to red, which advises against non-essential travel.
    "Today we have arranged a meeting among the agents mainly operating towards Bangkok. We have basically reached an agreement that tours will be cancelled to Bangkok from this afternoon, 18th of August, until the end of August. All the tours to Bangkok will be cancelled. And I think the main thing is that the Security Bureau show a red travel alert and we also look after the safety of the passengers. So the agents have made such a decision," Tung said at a media conference filmed by local channel ATV.
    He said they would assess the situation at the end of the month and was working with airlines to try to avoid penalty charges for tour cancellations as flights remained operational.
    ATV showed individual tourists checking in for Bangkok flights at the airport as normal.
    "Also at the same time, the agents will do their very best to talk to the passengers in case they want to change their itinerary or maybe postpone their trip. And agents will do according without any additional charge," he said.
    The Tourism Council estimated that 200 tours will be cancelled, affecting 4000 passengers, and has urged the Hong Kong government to raise the warning to black, the highest level.
    More than 65,000 Hongkongers and 630,000 mainland Chinese tourists visited Thailand in June alone, according to the Thai tourism ministry.
    China on Tuesday urged Thai authorities to fully investigate the bomb blast that killed four Chinese tourists, and to severely punish the perpetrators.
    China "expresses strong condemnation" of the bombing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement posted on its website.
    Hua said four Chinese tourists were killed, including two Hong Kong residents, and that more than 20 Chinese tourists were wounded in the blast.
  • Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register