Thailand will step up efforts to prevent Chinese tourists from being cheated by so called "zero-dollar tours", Adisai Bodharamik, minister to the Prime Minister's Office and chairman of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) said Tuesday.
Adisai, who just came back from a two-day meeting of top tourism officials of China, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore in China, said, "Thailand is fully supporting concrete measures to solve the problem of Chinese tourists getting unfair tour programs."
The problem of "zero-dollar tours", he said, is now very common in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, in which the Chinese tourists pay a very low price for a tour program but have to suffer through illegal activities like soliciting prostitutes, gambling or being taken to shopping to generate kickbacks to the tourist guides.
"That is why the top tourism officials of the four countries met in China," he said, noting the four sides have agreed in a memorandum of understanding that they will use strict measures to punish the tour operators who conducted "zero-dollar tours" or other illegal activities to Chinese tourists.
If found guilty, the tour operator in one of the four countries will be immediately taken off the list of certified trading partners in other three countries, he said.
He added that under the memorandum of understanding, tour companies must guarantee that the cost per tourist in a program must not fall below US$18 a day.
Adisai said he will soon call a meeting of all Thai tour companies that handle Chinese tour groups to crack down on illegal tourism activities to Chinese tourists.
(People's Daily)
