A recent 'tourism nightmare' experienced by a group from Qinghai Province visiting Hong Kong has shone a light on problems in the treatment of mainland sightseers to the Special Administrative Region (SAR).

The group was on a three-day shopping and sightseeing tour to Hong Kong last weekend when they were suddenly abandoned by their guide, as he did not feel they were spending enough money.

In recent weeks, there have been reports of mainland tourists being forced to stay in shops for extended periods of time and pressured into buying things they do not want, or being taken to unpleasant locations as "punishment" for refusing to purchase goods.

The guide in this weekend's incident has been suspended for two weeks and given a warning letter by the tour company.

However, some industry peers say the punishment does not go far enough, especially given the potential damage such practices can do to Hong Kong's image as a tourist-friendly destination.

"The problem is that local tour companies have these 'zero-fee' arrangements with mainland travel agents," says Michael Shi, manager of the Inbound Chinese Visitors Department at China Travel Service.

"While the mainland agents collect fees from their customers, they pay no money to local operators who handle the tours. This means these companies have to make their money on commission earned when the tourists shop."

Shi estimates that around 60 per cent of local tour operators work on this basis, making zero-fee tours more of an industry-wide practice than an anomaly in a city where competition for tour groups is intense.

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