Over a thousand Chinese tourists on 40 buses and vans returning to Phuket from tours to Krabi and Phang Nga on Sunday were handed lists of recommended tour prices to prevent them being ripped-off by agents charging greatly inflated prices.
The advisory, written in Chinese, informed the tourists that they should not spend more than THB3,000 per person per tour.
The campaign was carried out by more than 50 members of the Thai-Chinese Tourism Alliance Association’s Phuket office and the Thai, Chinese-speaking Tour Guide Club.
The list gave example prices of tours in Phuket, Krabi and Phang Nga. Examples included:
One day round trip to Phi Phi – Adult THB2,000; Child THB1,700
Phang Nga – Adult THB1,200; Child THB1,000
Koh Racha – Adult THB1,500; Child THB1,200
Koh Khai Nok – Adult THB1,000; Child THB800
Krabi four islands – Adult THB1,200; Child THB1,000
Similan Islands – Adult THB2,500; Child THB2,200
Koh Khai Nai – Adult THB600; Child THB600
The tour prices listed were set by the Ministry of Tourism. Ronnakris Cheinsangaroon, secretary of the Thai-Chinese Tourism Alliance Association, said “This allows tours to be no more than THB3,000 per person per tour group of 16 people or more. The need to make these leaflets available to tourists came after the government learned that many tour groups were cheating on tour packages and fares, and also to eliminate ‘zero-dollar’ tours,” Ronnakris noted.
“The brochure also aims to change negative perspectives about our tourism industry among Chinese. We want Chinese tourists to know what tours cost when they visit Thailand, and especially Phuket. They deserve a fair fare, just like everyone else,” he said.
“There have been so many illegal guides selling overpriced tour packages to our tourists. We want to preserve the good tourism image of Phuket, and the Kingdom, so we set up this list of standard prices which is available to the public and freely handed out to tourists.”
Story: The Phuket News
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