A group of 37 tourists from Liaoning Province were taken by their tour guide to a rubber mattress store in Xishuangbanna Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province in late March as part of a scheduled tour. However, they were locked in the store and unable to leave because none of them had any intention of buying the products.
Many angry customers filmed and posted videos online. In the video, the group of tourists can be seen lying or sitting on mattresses on display in the store. Sales staff stood guard to prevent them from leaving. "This is a store that sells rubber mattresses in Xishuangbanna. We came at noon and were held back," said one of the tourists who filmed the video. He added that no one was allowed to leave.
The group of tourists said they spent nearly 4,000 yuan ($550) each to join a tour to Yunnan run by Lianing Youde International Travel Service. They had no idea that all the activities while there were "just shopping".
The video went viral after being posted online. It is unclear how long the customers were kept in the store, but many believe it was "hours."
On March 27, a day after the video went viral, the local market supervision and administration agency posted a notice on its WeChat account about the incident. Authorities said the mattress store was owned by Taisi Dika Sleep Technology. A local travel agency, Faxian Zhilv, was responsible for organizing the group tour on behalf of Youde. Taisi Dika was forced to stop selling while the investigation was ongoing. The tour guide who brought the customers to the store was fined 10,000 yuan ($1,400).
The incident has sparked outrage in China. Many people have protested against the detention of tourists for refusing to buy goods. Others have said that it is "common practice" for tourists to be forced to shop by tour guides in Yunnan.
In February, a group of five tourists were kicked off a tour bus by their tour guide after they refused to buy a 50,000 yuan ($7,000) gold bracelet. In March, police in the city of Xiamen ordered a business owner to “close for a few days of reflection” after insulting a tourist who refused to buy. Earlier, in August 2023, a tour guide in Yunnan was also investigated after video showed him threatening and pressuring tourists to buy things during an eco-tour.
TH (according to VnExpress)Source
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