The Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau said on Wednesday that the Travel Industry Authority (TIA) received 9,674 registered itineraries from inbound Mainland tour groups from February 6 to May 7.

Among them, 47 percent of the tour groups stayed for two days in Hong Kong, while 39 percent spent only a day.

Starting from the end of March, the TIA requires Hong Kong licensed travel agents to provide tour fare information. The bureau said that from March 29 to May 7, the tour fares of 1,725 out of the 3,183 tour groups (54 percent) are under or equal to 500 yuan.

The Hong Kong Observation Wheel and the Ocean Park become the most popular attractions for mainland tourists, with 709 and 534 tours chosen to visit.

As reported that some tour groups took visitors to non-traditional tourist districts such as To Kwa Wan and Hung Hom for shopping and caused nuisances to residents, the Bureau claimed that TIA did not receive any complaints concerning the tour groups since February.

It added that TIA received seven requests for assistance, all were raised by mainland visitors. Three of them were about returning items purchased at registered shops, one about the attitude of a mainland tour escort, one about the attitude of the staff of a registered shop, one about a tour group participant who had gone missing and one about tour itinerary and fees.