Archive for ‘licence’

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13/06/2019

Chinese tour guide barred after forced shopping trip in scenic Guilin

  • Visit to beauty spot spoiled as tourists ordered off the bus to spend, spend, spend
Guilin is renowned for its scenic cruises along the Li River, through magnificent karst mountains. But one tour group was forced on an unexpected shopping trip. Photo: Alamy
Guilin is renowned for its scenic cruises along the Li River, through magnificent karst mountains. But one tour group was forced on an unexpected shopping trip. Photo: Alamy
A tour guide in the scenic city of Guilin in southern China has been stripped of her licence after forcing tourists to spend at least 20,000 yuan (US$2,900) in local shops.
The tour guide, surnamed Zhao, was captured on video telling her customers they had an hour to spend the money and she would accept no excuses.
The short clip, which has been circulating widely on Chinese social media this week, was filmed on June 1, according to online news portal QQ.com.
“You might have thousands of reasons to refuse me, such as you already have this stuff at home,” Zhao said in the video. “I don’t care why you have come to Guilin. Now you have chosen this group … get off the bus and spend 20,000 yuan [in] an hour.”
Tiffany loses its shine with Chinese tourists as US sales fall 25 per cent
Some of the tourists can be heard on the video murmuring “how can it be like this?”

The 55 members of the tour group, from Hunan province in central China, had travelled to Guilin in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region from May 30 to June 2. According to their itinerary, they were supposed to visit three shops on the day the incident happened, but instead visited six, the QQ.com report said.

One of the tourists bought more than 10 quilts, at more than 4,000 yuan each.Guilin is among China’s most popular tourism destinations, famous for its boat cruises on the Li River, which winds through beautiful karst mountains along its banks.

The Guilin tourism bureau said on Tuesday it had ordered Zhao to apologise to the group, and had revoked her tour guide licence.

In its statement on microblogging platform Weibo, the authority also said it was investigating her employer.

Ferrying tourists along China’s Yellow River

Tour guides are banned from forcing tourists to shop or join programmes charging extra fees. A State Council regulation issued two years ago set a 10,000-50,000 yuan penalty for individuals violating the rule, and a further 100,000-500,000 yuan fine for their tour company.

Despite the crackdown in recent years, it is not uncommon for Chinese tourists to be coerced by tour guides into extra spending during their trips. China’s authorities have repeatedly reminded the public to be wary of companies that lure potential tourists with extremely low group fees.

In July last year, a group of 300 elderly people, from the central province of Henan, were reportedly forced to buy jewellery from a shop in Hong Kong. The tour agency charged them just 380 yuan for the whole package and promised there would be no forced shopping activity, according to Henan TV.

But, despite the assurance, they were taken to a jewellery shop where their tour guide told them, “Henan people, spend some money to earn face for your Henan folks.”

Those who did not spend as they were urged had to wait in the shop for hours and were cursed by the tour guide, according to the television report. It is not clear if the tour guide or the agency received any penalty.

Source: SCMP

Posted in barred, forced shopping trip, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Guilin, Henan province, Hong Kong, jewellery, karst mountains, Li River, licence, news portal qq.com, State Council regulation, Tiffany, tour guide, Uncategorized, video, Yellow River | Leave a Comment »

07/10/2016

India telecoms spectrum auction raises $9.9 billion, Vodafone tops spending | Reuters

Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L) was the biggest spender in an Indian mobile phone spectrum auction that raised a total $9.9 billion for the government, as carriers competed to boost subscribers in the world’s fastest-growing internet services market.

The proceeds of the auction, which ended on Thursday after five days of bidding, helped India raise about 658 billion rupees ($9.87 billion).

That figure was well below the $84 billion worth of spectrum on offer however, as carriers shunned the priciest category of airwaves, snapping up less than half of the total on offer.

Yet given the vast volume available, no one had expected the priciest spectrum – that offers deeper reach – to be bought now, as data demand in India is still in its infancy and data costs in the ultra-competitive market are falling, making it harder for carriers to justify big cash outlays.

JPMorgan earlier on Thursday had projected the auction would generate between $8 billion and $12 billion.The government had budgeted for 646 billion rupees ($9.7 billion) as revenue from the auction in the current fiscal year ending March. It will receive some 320 billion rupees upfront, as carriers are allowed to make payments in instalments.

Vodafone, which in recent months injected $7.2 billion in its Indian unit, the market’s No.2, bought spectrum worth more than $3 billion, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.

Market leader Bharti Airtel (BRTI.NS) bought $2.13 billion worth, while No. 3 player Idea Cellular (IDEA.NS) spent $1.92 billion at the auction.

The three rivals, which together hold more than 60 percent of the Indian market of a billion-plus mobile subscriptions, are being challenged by new entrant Reliance Jio Infocomm, backed by India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani.Reliance Jio, which has the most 4G airwaves across India’s 22 telecoms zones, last month launched services with free voice calls and cut-rate data prices, triggering a price war. It bought spectrum worth $2.05 billion.

Although among India’s top three, Vodafone and Idea lag Bharti and Jio in terms of 4G presence, and were seen beefing up their high-speed data networks by aggressively bidding in the latest spectrum sale.

Idea said on Thursday it had been able to complete its mobile broadband footprint in all 22 service areas after the latest auction. Vodafone was yet to give details.The government found no takers for the best-quality and the priciest 700 megahertz airwaves, offered for the first time.

Carriers instead purchased spectrum in the 1800 and 2300 bands that can also handle 4G traffic.

All seven carriers including Reliance Communications (RLCM.NS) and Tata Teleservices that participated in the auction bought some spectrum, Telecoms Minister Manoj Sinha told reporters on Thursday.

The auction was India’s largest by spectrum volume.

Source: India telecoms spectrum auction raises $9.9 billion, Vodafone tops spending | Reuters

Posted in Digital communications, Economics, India alert, licence, Technology | Leave a Comment »

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