Two Arrests Made Over Travel Agency Closure

The police said on Wednesday evening they had arrested two people over the abrupt closure of a travel agency this week that has left the Easter holiday plans of hundreds of people in ruins.

Officers had earlier visited the Yau Ma Tei office of Action Travel, which announced on Tuesday night that it was closing down because of a cash crunch.

It was believed two company directors had been arrested on suspicion of fraud.

The Travel Industry Council (TIC) said it had received almost 100 complaints relating to the closure, involving about 450 people. Between them, they had spent some HK$2.4 million with the firm.

The TIC warned earlier in the day that because most of the affected customers had not been given any official receipts from Action Travel for the air tickets and holiday packages they had recently bought, it could be very difficult for them to seek redress from the Travel Industry Compensation Fund.

But the body later said the situation had changed and the firm did have the necessary receipts, it just hadn't sent them to customers yet.

The council's executive director Alice Chan told RTHK's Timmy Sung that the agency had been urged to contact its customers immediately to arrange for the receipts to be issued to them.

"For those travellers who obtain the franked receipts, then they will be able to apply for compensation from the Travel Industry Compensation Fund," Chan said.

DAB legislator Lau Kwok-fan, who is helping the customers affected, said the firm had been selling holiday packages just a day before it closed down.