Locusts or Suckers?
Peter Wu
7 January 2013
This is the front page article in the NZ Herald Today. The
Herald is the biggest circulation newspaper in the top half of the North Island
which makes it possibly the most read newspaper in the country.
To cut a long story short, The City Mission (my favourite
charity) is best known for offering overnight shelters for the homeless in
Auckland, plus giving out food parcels to those in need. Its signature event is
the annual Christmas lunch which feeds an upward of over two thousand people
who simply cannot afford it or have nobody to share it
with. That the event can take place is a tribute to the tireless efforts of the
hundreds of volunteers and generosity of businesses who
donate money or foods, or make available first class facilities at no/minimal
charge.
To partake in the lunch, you need to register but it
doesn’t turn away people who turn up without registration.
According to a news item on Boxing Day, a group of Chinese
tourists were seen partaking in the event. If true, this is a blatant abuse of
a charity event for the poor and under-privileged. Diane Robertson, The
Commissioner, was furious, saying that if this is true, she wanted these people
to pay for the lunch.
Lincoln Tan, the Asian affairs editor for the Herald did
his own investigation and he filed his report below.
A thing like this not only steps on the raw nerves of
Kiwis, it is yet another incident which adds to the negative perception of
Chinese immigrants.
May be the label of Locust as applied to Chinese tourists
in HK is not a misnomer after all.
Attachment
Tourist: We were conned
5:30 AM Saturday Jan 5, 2013
Do you have information about Xing Yu
(Lucky Jade) Sightseeing? Email us here.
The Chinese tourists were among 2800 people at the
Auckland City Mission's Christmas dinner. Photo / Richard Robinson
A group of Chinese tourists say a rogue
tour operator in Auckland promised them visits to
farms, geyser parks and buffet dinners - but instead took them to free public
facilities and charitable events, including the City Mission's annual Christmas
dinner.
Ming Xi, a visitor from Wuhan, said he
and 10 other Chinese tourists were taken to the City Mission lunch by the tour
leader, who told them the event was an annual "buffet treat" the New
Zealand Government organised for citizens and visitors.
Their presence at the dinner - intended
for people unable to afford a Christmas meal - caused widespread outrage when
it was revealed.
Mr Xi, who is in his 50s, arrived last
month as part of a tour group on a four-day North Island tour.
He decided to extend his visit to
"experience how Christmas was celebrated in a Western country".
He was approached by the Mandarin-speaking
tour leader as he left the i-Site Visitor Information
Centre in Quay St, Auckland, the week before Christmas and offered a discounted
daily rate of $88 a person for the tour, which included meals and all
activities and entry charges.
Mr Xi had other tour brochures, but
this operator said he could do the same tours for less than half the price.
The itinerary would include visits to a
wildlife reserve, a farm park, gardens and a geyser park, and meals would
include a Kiwi barbecue, a cultural dinner and a grand Christmas buffet.
"I thought it was a real bargain,
but the main reason we decided to go with him was because we thought it would
be handy to have a local guide who spoke Mandarin," he said.
"I was shocked to find out later
from media reports that the Christmas lunch was a charity lunch for the poor
and homeless, and that most of the places we had been taken to were free and
were not meant for tourists."
A TVNZ Christmas Day news report said
Chinese tourists on organised tours were among the 2800 people at the Viaduct
Events Centre for the annual charity lunch.
The Kiwi barbecue was a sausage sizzle
at a public barbecue pit, and the cultural dinner was a vegetarian meal at an
"Indian" spiritual gathering where the group were
asked to chant, sing and dance before eating, Mr Xi said.
He could not remember the names of the
other places, but from his descriptions they could be Western Springs, Ambury
Farm Park, the Auckland Botanic Gardens and, in
Rotorua, the thermal Kuirau Park.
A Tourism New Zealand official said the
tour company involved, Xing Yu (Lucky Jade) Sightseeing, was not a licensed
tour operator under its Approved Destination Status (ADS) group-tours scheme.
"This appears to be a case where
visitors have independently decided to pay for a service from someone they met
in the street, which proved unsatisfactory," said corporate affairs
general manager Chris Roberts.
He said most Chinese visitors came to
New Zealand as part of ADS tours, and licensed operators had to adhere to a
code of conduct.
Failure to do so could result in a
suspension.
"As an example, charges for
services or entrance to attractions, activities, venues or other places which
are free of charge is strictly prohibited under the code," Mr Roberts
said.
The tourism manager at Auckland
Tourism, Events and Economic Development, Jason Hill, said the industry had
been "working very hard" to try to keep non-accredited operators out
of the market.
He said international visitors should
book their tours and activities through the official visitor information
network, the i-Sites, and look out for operators with
the Qualmark sign.
Short-changed
The offer
*A grand Christmas buffet, cultural
dinner and a great Kiwi barbecue
*Admission to a farm park with farm
shows, shearing and milking
*Visit to a wildlife reserve with
endangered native birds
*Geysers, mud pools and a soak in
Rotorua hot mineral pool
What they got
*Auckland City Mission charity
Christmas lunch
*Vegetarian dinner by an
"Indian" spiritual group, for which they had to chant, sing and dance
*A sausage sizzle
on a public barbecue pit
*Council-funded Ambury Farm Park and
Western Springs
*Rotorua's public Kuirau Park and a
soak at its free foot bath