37 Chinese tourists locked up in mattress store pay $550 each for tour

By Hoang Vu April 13, 2024 | 01:00 am PT

A shot from a video shared on Baidu shows Chinese tourists are held captive inside a mattress store in China, March 2024.

A group of 37 Chinese tourists held captive for several hours at a store in Yunnan Province for refusing to buy products there said they had each paid 3,979 yuan (US$550) for the tour.

A video clip shared on Chinese social media showed them expressing outrage at being locked inside the shop late last month.

They had been lured into the store by their tour guide who then joined the store owner in preventing them from leaving, Chinese-language site 163 reported.

They had bought the tour from Liaoning Youde International Travel Service but had been shocked to know that their activities only involved shopping, the South China Morning Post reported.

Chinese authorities announced on an official WeChat account that they ordered the store to suspend operation.

They slapped a fine of 10,000 yuan ($1,380) on the tour guide, who did not possess a license either.

The incident has sparked a wave of outrage among Chinese netizens.

In February a tour guide was fined 20,000 yuan and suspended for three months after forcing a family of Chinese tourists off a bus for refusing to buy a bracelet at a jewelry store for 50,000 yuan (US$6,950).