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TRAVEL AND TOURISM
prices. Should a licensed travel agent default, aggrieved outbound travellers with franked receipts are entitled to claim an ex gratia payment of 80 per cent of the tour prices paid. From December 20, 1996, the maximum rate of ex gratia payment under the TICF has been increased from 80 per cent to 90 per cent of the outbound fare paid. In 1996, two licensed travel agents, namely, Mera Travel Services Ltd and Observers Travel Enterprise Co Ltd collapsed in April and June respectively and ex gratia payments of about $4 million were paid out from the fund.
In the light of the closure of the two travel agents, the government is considering ways to further strengthen the regulation of licensed travel agents with a view to better protecting the travelling public. Separately, a working group has been set up under the TICF Management Board to review and streamline procedures regarding processing of claims for ex gratia payments from the TICF upon the default of travel agents.
In December 1994, two Hong Kong tourists were killed and 21 injured when their coach collided with a bus in Thailand. Most of the victims were not insured. In January 1996, three Hong Kong tourists were killed and nine injured in a river rafting accident in Indonesia. The accidents sparked calls in Hong Kong for the provision of mandatory insurance coverage for outbound travellers, especially those travelling as members of package tours.
After carefully considering the views of legislators, members of the public and the travel industry, the Advisory Committee on Travel Agents (ACTA) recommended and the TICF Management Board agreed that the ambit of the TICF should be widened to cover a contingency fund scheme for the protection of outbound travellers on package tours against accidents abroad. As the scheme ensures only minimum protection to outbound travellers on package tours, ACTA also recommended that the TIC should continue to encourage travellers and travel agents to take out their own insurance policies.
The Package Tour Accident Contingency Fund Scheme came into operation before the Lunar New Year with effect from February 16, 1996. It provides financial relief to outbound travellers who are injured or killed in accidents while touring abroad. It covers medical expenses and funeral expenses incurred in the relevant country or repatriation of the dead body/ashes of the victim traveller, as well as expenses incurred in compassionate visits for up to two relatives of the victim traveller. Since the introduction of the scheme, 14 tour accident reports involving four fatal and 10 injuries cases have been received. There have been six applications for financial assistance and ex gratia payments to six victim travellers amounting to $125,000 have been made.
The TICF is in a healthy financial state. At the end of the year, it had a balance of $223 million.