BANGKOK — As one of the world’s top 10 global destinations, Thailand welcomed about 34 million tourists last year. Among them were 8.7 million Chinese visitors, a 10.3 per cent increase from 2015.
From January to May this year, close to 4 million Chinese tourists visited Thailand, generating 201.1 billion baht (S$8.2 billion) for the economy. Currently, six out of 10 Chinese tourists are independent travellers who shun large tour groups, preferring to use smartphone apps to book flights, hotel stays and tours. Such bookings are expected to grow to 70 per cent in the near future.
Yet their penchant for cheap tours has given the Thai government a massive headache. The proliferation of zero-dollar packages has chipped away significant earnings from the Thai hospitality industry, key tourism organisations said last week.
A high-profile crackdown last October saw zero-dollar tour operators arrested and thousands of tour buses seized. However these unscrupulous packages are still being sold.
Mr Chart Chantanaprayura, president of the Professional Tourist Guide Association of Thailand, blames uncertified tour companies in mainland China, which he claims are still offering very cheap Thailand packages. Chinese travellers initially pay a low price for them but often find themselves forced to pay exorbitant prices for food, tours and accommodation once they arrive.
These tour packages routinely breach the minimum price agreed between the Chinese and Thai authorities.
For example, he said an online package of three or four days is priced at between 699 and 799 yuan (S$142 to S$162) per person — almost half the minimum rate of about 6,000 baht agreed by the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) and Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).
While the number of zero-dollar Chinese packages has dropped since the crackdown, Mr Chart wants more to be done. For example, there have been several cases of tour companies abandoning groups of Chinese tourists in Pattaya and Phuket in recent months.
On June 16, Deputy Prime Minister Tanasak Patimapragorn met with Mr Wang Xiaofeng, vice-chairman of the CNTA, members of the Chinese Tourist Police and the consul-general of China to discuss the situation.
“The zero-dollar tour scheme is a big issue calling for a special plan,” he said. “Government and law enforcement alone may not work. What is needed is a coordinated effort from all stakeholders: Hotels, tour companies and local authorities.”
THE FALLOUT OF ZERO-DOLLAR TOURS
Buyers of zero-dollar tour packages are usually tech-savvy first-time Chinese tourists who rely on little more than a smartphone to help them navigate Thailand with Google Translate.
The Professional Tourist Guide Association of Thailand said they are often forced to go to jewellery shops, or shell out for ‘optional’ tours like entertainment shows. Those who refuse to pay may be forced out of a bus at night or made to wait in the hotel lobby until morning – thus giving Thailand a bad name.
Unregistered Chinese-speaking guides force the tourists to buy optional tours, so that they can earn kickbacks from shops they take tourists to. Chinese investors have opened stores in major tourist destinations, with some controlling fleets of tour buses. Earlier this year, one giant zero-dollar operator with 8,000 buses was raided.
“Since many Chinese are unable to communicate in either English or Thai, they can’t file complaints or deal with the problem,” Mr Chart said. “Eventually, these tourists feel dissatisfied with their visits to Thailand, raising the issue with Chinese authorities when returning home.”
Mr Chart said the zero-dollar tours still being offered may cost the Thai economy close to 30 million baht per day. That money will mostly end up in Chinese pockets through the network of overpriced tours, meals, hotel stays and purchases at Chinese-owned souvenir shops.
Mr Adith Chairattananon, managing director of Golden Discovery Express, a major tour operator in Bangkok, said most of the 40,000 registered guides in the market are jobless and the situation is worsening because they are losing out to the unregistered tour guides.
“People say Thailand does not have enough registered Chinese-speaking tourist guides,” Mr Adith said. “This is not true. The problem is that professional guides are not employed by travel companies serving the Chinese market.”
Zero-dollar tours are even putting lives at risk.
One tour guide said a group of Chinese tourists almost died in the Gulf of Thailand because they rushed to dive shortly after their plane landed.
“Tourists (who have been) flying for more than four or five hours should not go diving or swimming within 24 hours of landing since their bodies need time to adjust to (the change in) pressure conditions,” he said. “Nevertheless, many flights from China land in Thailand late at night and their passengers head to the beach the following morning.”
HIGH STAKES FOR TOURISM INDUSTRY
Thailand’s image is on the line. A recent spate of diving-related injuries has prompted the Professional Tourist Guide Association of Thailand to recommend that Chinese tourists put pressure on their government to continue its crackdown on illegal tourism businesses and avoid taking zero-dollar tours.
Tourism contributes about 10 per cent of Thailand’s GDP and is a resilient spot for the economy, which has been struggling since the May 2014 military coup. It is rising a source of revenue, with the number of independent Chinese visitors growing and more of them spending on local goods and services.
Mr Ittirit Kinglake, president of the Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT), said the government must solve the problem of the zero-dollar tour packages as allowing them to operate any longer will hurt the country’s competitiveness. It has called on the government to protect tourists from crime and accidents by providing them with real-time information and improving transportation and infrastructure. The TCT is also urging the private sector to join the government in shaping laws and regulations for the tourism industry. – BANGKOK POST