Mainland tourists are targeted by unscrupulous tour guides and agents because of the relative lack of maturity and experience of the outside world, according to Paul Tse Wai-chun, legislators for the tourism sector.

"The mainland is still a virgin market for Hong Kong in terms of tourism in the sense that many tourists are coming to the city for the first time and they are very vulnerable in that they haven't been exposed to a lot of things," he said.

"Not so much with the people from southern China, but for those from the north it is probably the first time they have left the mainland and for that reason they are very vulnerable to all kinds of tricks and unlawful persuasion."

"It's a stage people from most countries and regions go through. At one stage people from Japan were very vulnerable and very easy targets for these kinds of tricks. Then it was the Taiwanese and the Hong Kong people as well. We all went through this cycle and we learned from our mistakes.

"I think more effort should be made to educate the tourists on the mainland. Maybe if they are encouraged to travel more, they will make mistakes on the way but by and large, you learn from your mistakes and you become a more sophisticated tourist and you are more secure."

Tse said the case of Chen, who collapsed and died of a heart attack in May, was an extreme example of an all-too-common story. "We hear of shops exercising very coercive measures to stop people leaving for two hours," he said.

"Sometimes they shut the doors. They try all kinds of tricks and exert psychological pressure on the tourists. They make untrue statements about what they sell and the quality of what they sell."

Despite their lack of experience, however, most mainland visitors are aware there will be a hidden price with a cut-price tour to Hong Kong, Tse believes. "People always think they can beat the system - that they can join this tour and not be persuaded into buying things," he said. "They think they can resist the temptation."

(HK Edition 06/15/2010 page2)