The government on Tuesday issued an amber outbound travel alert for France, while a travel agency scrapped package tours to the country until the end of October.

"Due to the persistent protests that have occurred across many places in France, resulting in clashes and damages, the HKSAR Government advises Hong Kong residents who intend to visit France, or are already there, that they should monitor the situation, exercise caution, attend to personal safety, pay attention to local announcements on the latest situation and avoid large gatherings of people," a government spokesman said.

"Residents should avoid all non-essential travel to areas where protests are taking place."

The spokesman added that the Security Bureau will continue to closely monitor the situation and issue updates through the media and online.

SAR residents who require assistance abroad were urged to utilise the Immigration Department's 1868 hotline either over the phone or through messaging apps. They could also contact local Chinese embassies.

The warning came as travel agency WWPKG announced it was cancelling two package tours to France and western Europe later this month, affecting 30 customers.

It would assess whether to cancel further tours departing in November.

Wing On Travel said 21 customers were in Paris on a package tour, and their itineraries were unaffected.

EGL Tours said a coach carrying 10 people on its package tour was safely escorted by police away from a protest in Paris on Saturday. They continued with their planned journey the next day.

The eurozone's second-largest economy was rocked on Saturday by some of its worst street violence in recent years, just six months before the election to replace French President Emmanuel Macron.

Images of clashes, mobs looting stores and public buildings set ablaze circulated around the world, prompting several countries to issue travel advisories for their citizens in France. (Additional reporting by AFP)


Edited by Aaron Tam