News from the Haikou Hotel Room Rate Management Conference say that the city has punished a batch of travel agencies and hotels that have been found guilty of not implementing price controls that were effective on March 1, 2006.

The Haikou Municipal Tourism Bureau examined 18 star-grade and 15 non-star-grade hotels. It found that 15 travel agencies including Haikou Youth Travel Service and Xiandao Travel Agency arranged travel groups to live in non-star hotels and receive commission from these hotels. This type of commission is not legal.

Haikou Municipal Tourism Bureau asks the star-grade hotels to stop the covert competition and for travel agencies not to send travelers to non-star-grade hotels.