The Consumer Council has taken some travel agents to task for their sale practice in bundling package tours with mandatory travel insurance.
Following consumer complaints about such trade practice, the Council has conducted a survey on 17 travel agents in relation to 3 selected package tours (Beijing, Bangkok and Tokyo) in a study.
On the basis of the information collected in visits to these travel agents surveyed, 4 out of the 17 agents were found to adopt the sale practice of bundling package tour with designated travel insurance.
Consumers who chose to refuse to purchase the travel insurance, would not be allowed to join the tours.
Of these 4 travel agents in question, 2 required the mandatory purchase of the designated travel insurance even though the customers were already covered by their own annual travel insurance.
The survey covered also the premium charged by travel agents requiring the purchase of mandatory travel insurance in comparison with those available at other travel agents.
For a 5-day trip to Beijing, for instance, the premium ranged from $181 to $198 (both global plans), compared with $84 (china-basic travel insurance plan) to $190 (global plan).
For a 5-day Bangkok trip, the premium ranged from $177 to $198, compared with $138 to $190.
In their response, 1 of the 4 travel agents concerned has denied and explained that it was probably due to misinterpretation of the company requirement by the staff.
Regarding the bundled sale practice, the Travel Industry Council (TIC) does not have any specific guideline or code of practice on this issue.
The TIC believes that consumers should have the right to choose the travel agents they like and, on the other hand, travel agents should be able to formulate their own business policies.
According to the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance, as far as the Insurance Companies Ordinance is concerned, it is not mandatory for consumers joining package tours to purchase travel insurance. There are also no specific provisions concerning matters on requiring consumers to purchase designated travel insurance for joining package tours adopted by some travel agents.
The Council is of the view that such a sale practice would hinder the ability of the consumers to choose and prevent them from obtaining a policy that suits their needs.
The Council is concerned that such a practice may become prevalent in the travel industry, gradually depriving consumers of their fundamental right to choose.
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