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The Lunar New Year always attracts large numbers of tourists from all over the world - people who come to Hong Kong to experience the traditional Chinese festive season. Checking in at a hotel or guesthouse is normally the first thing tourists will do upon arrival. To enjoy a safe stay, the Home Affairs Department (HAD) appeals to tourists to patronise licensed guesthouses that display guesthouse logos.
Tourists may visit the website of the HAD's Office of Licensing Authority (OLA) (www.hadla.gov.hk) to view and choose from the full list of licensed guesthouses. To help tourists identify guesthouses licensed under the Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation Ordinance (the Ordinance), the OLA has launched a Licensed Guesthouse Logo Scheme, which requires all licensed guesthouses to display a special logo at the main entrance and on the doors of all guestrooms for easy identification.
A spokesman for the HAD said, "Patronising licensed guesthouses is of utmost importance to ensure tourists' safety. When processing a licence application, the OLA will ensure that the premises concerned complies with the required structural and fire safety standards as stipulated in the Ordinance before issuing the licence, so as to ensure the safety of occupants as well as other residents and visitors to the building."
In addition, the OLA will continue to strengthen law enforcement and publicity during the Lunar New Year holidays. Apart from increasing the number of blitz inspections, it will also conduct large-scale inter-departmental joint operations with other government departments in tourist accommodation hotspots.
On the publicity front, the OLA will step up related messages on television and radio. Posters and banners are displayed at major immigration control points and in districts with more suspected unlicensed guesthouses to appeal to tourists to patronise licensed accommodation. Tourists may also visit the "Shop Smart" website set up by the Consumer Council to get relevant information.
The spokesman stressed, "It is a criminal offence to operate an unlicensed guesthouse and offenders are liable to imprisonment upon conviction. The Government will not tolerate any illegal operation and will continue enhanced enforcement actions to combat unlicensed guesthouses to ensure the safety of patrons of these establishments."
Ends/Sunday, January 22, 2012
Issued at HKT 14:01
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