Thailand warns of price gouging tour sales

Halloween festival on Khaosan Road in Bangkok, Thailand - Photo: AFP

The Tourism Bureau under the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Thailand has warned of a growing number of tour operators violating the law by using agents, or using price-dumping strategies, along with new fraudulent "tactics" offering cheap tours disguised as direct sales or multi-level marketing companies.

The more than 100 suspected illegal tour operators may be a relatively small number compared to the country’s 13,000 licensed operators, said Jaturon Phakdeewanit, director-general of the Tourism Bureau. But their activities can be devastating to Thailand’s tourism industry, as much of the revenue goes overseas rather than benefiting local businesses.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand has so far revoked the licenses of 10 travel agencies for violating the law on the use of agents, while 30 suspect companies have been investigated.

Mr. Jaturon said the violators were mostly large companies that illegally hired foreign tour guides. Some of the companies had not registered for tourism licenses, or did not operate through representatives, but as multi-level marketing and direct sales companies in Thailand.

For example, Mr. Jaturon said, companies would offer Chinese tourists a cheap membership fee that included a free four-day trip to Thailand. On the subsequent trip, the companies would take the tourists (now nominally their members) to visit certain shopping locations within their network, forcing them to buy products or souvenirs only at those locations.

Mr Jaturon said these actions were similar to selling illegal tour packages without a tourism license. Illegal companies would also make a profit through commission fees from the locations.

According to honorary secretary-general of the Thai Travel Agents Association Adith Chairattananon, the emergence of illegal tours has affected licensed domestic tour operators as those cheap packages have caused them to lose significant market share.

Mr. Adith said this issue also affects the Thai Government's tourism revenue target of 3,000 billion baht (nearly 83 billion USD), due to low package prices and financial circulation will mostly flow to foreign networks.

For that reason, he recommended that the government should take legal action against illegal businesses, creating conditions for the local economy to reap the most benefits from the visa exemption program for 93 countries that will start from mid-July.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/thai-lan-canh-bao-chieu-ban-tour-pha-gia-20240714111601914.htm