{"id":16136,"date":"2025-12-02T13:38:55","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T05:38:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=16136"},"modified":"2025-12-02T13:38:55","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T05:38:55","slug":"23-singaporean-tourists-locked-in-shop-after-refusing-to-buy-items-during-china-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=16136","title":{"rendered":"23 Singaporean tourists locked in shop after refusing to buy items during China trip"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\nBy Hoang Vu<\/a>\u00a0 &nbspDecember 1, 2025 | 03:00 pm PT\t<\/div>\n
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\nPeople walk at a shopping area in Chengdu, Sichuan province, China, Sept. 8, 2020. Photo by Reuters\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


\nA group of 23 tourists from Singapore were pressured by their tour guide to buy items at a shop in China’s Chengdu Province and locked inside when they refused to make purchases.\t<\/span><\/p>\n

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Shawn Tok, winner of the 2007 Campus SuperStar competition, recently revealed in a series of Instagram Stories that he had traveled with a tour group of 23 others on a nine-day trip in November, Asia One<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n

They had been forced to buy jade, silverware, combs and herbal medicines, and refused to let the group leave the shop until his sales quota was met, local outlet 8Days <\/em>reported.<\/p>\n

The travelers say they spent about 105,000 yuan (US$14,850) during the tour, but the guide insisted it was insufficient.<\/p>\n

He allegedly stopped people from sleeping on the bus, forced them to listen to product pitches and threatened to cancel the tour when they declined to shop.<\/p>\n

Shawn said he later checked the tour contract and found no clause requiring mandatory purchases.<\/p>\n

He added that, under local law, shopping stops not listed in the contract are illegal.<\/p>\n

The group presented transaction histories and receipts to police as evidence of what they described as a forced-shopping scam.<\/p>\n

After Chinese authorities intervened, the tour agency reportedly issued the travelers a full refund.<\/p>\n

The incident has sparked a heated debate on social media, with many users warning against “cheap tours” and dubious operators on social platforms.<\/p>\n

“Either do free-and-easy travel or book with a reputable agency,” one user advised, while others criticized the guide’s behaviour.<\/p>\n

“Some tour guides really like unreasonable beggars,” a netizen wrote.<\/p>\n

China has stepped up enforcement against forced-shopping practices, which often lure customers with low-cost tours and then pressure them into purchases at designated shops.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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