An operator to China has been criticised for not offering what it advertised in its brochure.
The advertising watchdog upheld two complaints against The Oriental Travel Company (TOTC).
The operator failed to respond to queries made by the Advertising Standards Authority after a consumer complained that advertised elements of a tour taken in autumn 2012 to the Great Wall of China and a Yangtze river cruise were not included in the trip.
One of these was a picnic on a watchtower at the Great Wall and the other was a visit to the Xiling Gorge and Fengdu Snow Jade Cave as part of the cruise.
The ASA ruled: “We noted TOTC had not provided any explanation as to why the complainant’s holiday had not included those advertised elements.
“In the absence of any explanation as to why those elements were not included in the complainant’s holiday as advertised, we concluded that the advertising claims were misleading.”
The company was banned from using the advert again.
“We told TOTC to ensure that their holiday descriptions did not misleadingly imply elements were included in their holidays that might not be the case,” the ASA added.
The matter was also referred to the Committee of Advertising Practice’s compliance team.