2015年CRI Scams Leave Visitors with Bitter Aftertaste during Golden Week（在线收听）

The most high-profile scandal took place at a restaurant in the coastal city of Qingdao.

A tourist from Nanjing, surnamed Zhu, complained about being overcharged for a seafood dinner.

"He asked us to pay over 21-hundred yuan when we finished the meal. I said that's too expensive but the owner said it's because each prawn was charged 38 yuan. I argued that we had checked with them about the price before ordering, but the owner refused to talk any longer and didn't let us go unless paying the bill."

Zhu says the restaurant owner threatened to beat up his entire family if they didn't foot the bill.

The restaurant has since been shut down and fined 90-thousand yuan.

An official with the market supervision administration in Qingdao has been suspended as a result.

Another notable scam took place in the popular backpackers city of Lijiang in Yunnan.

A tourist from Shenzhen, identified as Peng, was forced into spending 5-thousand yuan at a bar when he met up with a pair of women he met through WeChat.

Peng claims the two women took him to a bar and ordered six bottles of wine, but then later disappeared.

Traps such as these at tourist sites and during the holidays are still common in China.

Among the highest number of complaints are taxi drivers detouring to charge passengers more, and tour guides who get kickbacks by taking tourists to buy fake souvenirs.

A lack of help when someone does fall into a scam is also one of the biggest complaints.

In the case in Qingdao, the victim phoned both the local police and the price control watchdogs for help, but was eventually told by authorities to just pay the bill.

Lawyer Qiu Baochang says contacting the local police won't always work in cases like this.

"Price fraud is a form of civil dispute, which police aren't really equipped to deal with. Market regulators need to do more to eliminate cases like this. In this case, the local pricing watchdog would be responsible."

Tourism industry observers are warning that poor tourism services in China is starting to push more tourists to travel overseas.

South Korea, Thailand and Japan were the most popular destination for Chinese tourists during this past week-long National Day holiday.

Visits by Chinese tourist to South Korea increased by 30 percent compared to the same period last year.

For CRI, I'm Luo Wen.