Macau Tourists Riot Against Over-Commercialized Group Tour

Posted by Shabana on December 10, 2007
Filed under: Macau, News

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Everyone who’s ever been part of a group tour is familiar with the mandatory stops outside cheesy touristy shops selling badly made, overpriced stuff. While most of us would grit our teeth and wait for the driver to get back on, a bunch of 100 tourists in Macau were in no mood to suffer silently. They decided they’d had enough and promptly launched a protest against the injustice of commercialization. Riot police armed with batons had to be called in to control the marauding holiday makers.

Macau has grown to become a favored holiday spot for mainland Chinese, who formed a bulk of the 22 million people who visited the gambling resort island last year. In fact, Macau welcomed more visitors than Las Vegas in 2006, making it the world’s No. 1 gambling destination. It’s also slowly evolving into one of the most commercialized, as this tourist riot shows.

The tourists involved in the scuffle were annoyed because the guides kept carting them along to stores where they claim they were pressured to buy souvenirs and other goods, instead of showing them the sights on the former Portuguese colony. The straw that broke the camel’s back reportedly came when the bus operators refused to allow the tourists back on the bus to pick up warm clothing.

Macau tourist officials downplayed the incident, saying it was a “one off thing.”

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