The Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong terminated the membership of the following two travel agents upon being notified by the Travel Agents Registry (TAR) that their licences were revoked today (27 April):

• Eastrip Travel Company Limited (Trade name: Eastrip Travel; Licence No: 351601); and
• Hotel Everywhere Company Limited (Trade name: Net Travel; Licence No: 352543).

According to the information provided by the TAR, about 363 groups of travellers were affected after they requested refunds from the two travel agents but to no avail, involving about HK$2,300,000 in total concerning travel packages and about HK$2,540,000 in total concerning air tickets. The two travel agents claimed that the receipts of all travel packages were franked, thus entitling the affected travellers to the protection under the Travel Industry Compensation Fund (TICF).

The TIC wishes to advise the affected travellers to take action as listed below:

• For those who have bought travel packages: please contact the TICF’s secretariat on 3151-7945 in order to apply for ex gratia payment from the TICF.
• For those who have bought air tickets: (1) please check the validity of their tickets with the airlines concerned, and start civil proceedings for claims if they paid by cash; and (2) please check the validity of their tickets with the airlines concerned, and contact the credit card-issuing banks for the terms and conditions of protection applicable if they paid by credit card.