A China Tourism Association official suggested on Saturday that Chinese tourists avoid shopping in the Paris-based Galeries Lafayette.

The unnamed official said the association was concerned about an incident where two Chinese tourists were treated insultingly while shopping in the famed French department store.

"We are discontent and regretted that Chinese tourists were treated so rudely in Paris. We suggest travelers not to go shopping in the store before the incident is properly handled."

He asked domestic travel agencies to suspend organizing tourists to visit Lafayette.

He urged the French high-end retail group and concerned departments to properly solve the issue and avoid such kind of incidents in future.

China and France have good diplomatic relations. Bilateral tourism exchanges have been growing quickly in the past few years. Although the recent incident had seriously hurt the two victims, the official still believed the French side would try to minimize the influence of the issue and create a friendly environment for Chinese tourists.

A newlywed couple from the eastern Zhejiang Province were accused of using a forged note while paying for a purchase at Lafayette on Feb. 11. They were then taken to a police station where they were questioned and searched.

After a bank expert identified the note was real, the couple returned to the cashier who again refused the note and insisted to claim it was counterfeit.

The French department store on Friday made a formal apology to the couple.

"We officially and sincerely apologize for the Chinese young couple, the other tour members and all the Chinese people who were hurt in this incident," said Paul Delaoutre, Galeries Lafayette president.

On Tuesday, Delaoutre said he sent the couple a letter in which he made an apology and offered them a new Paris tour.

He said Chinese tourists were the biggest-spending foreign consumers in Lafayette, promising his department store would take all the necessary measures to avoid such incidents in future.

(Xinhua News Agency February 23, 2008)