Tour firms accused of ripping off Chinese
Print Edition
THAI prosecutors have charged a string of tour operators with ripping off Chinese tourists, police said yesterday, as the kingdom cracks down on scams targeting its most lucrative visitors.
China sends more people to Thailand than any other nation and tourism remains one of the few bright spots in the nation’s otherwise bleak economy.
But complaints have soared in recent years over dodgy tour guides and practices, particularly so-called “zero-dollar” scams.
Such schemes promise Chinese package tourists an impossibly cheap or free holiday only to pile on excessive charges once they arrive in the country.
Prosecutors this week charged 13 people from seven different Thai tour operators.
“They are charged with organized crime offenses, joint money laundering and illegally running tourist operations without permission,” a police spokesman told reporters.
Local media, citing Bangkok’s Criminal Court, said the companies made as much as US$2.7 million through the scams.
In recent years China has played a major role in keeping Thailand’s tourist boom rolling.
Tourism authorities say they are on course to receive a record 32 million visitors this year, up from 30 million last year.
Nearly a third will come from China with 9.1 million expected, a 14 percent increase.
Thailand’s junta, which has moved closer to Beijing since seizing power in 2014, is desperate to avoid any tail-off in Chinese numbers.
So far tourists have kept coming despite some major setbacks.
Last year 20 people were killed, most of them ethnic Chinese tourists, when a bomb went off at a shrine in the center of Bangkok.
Two ethnic Uygurs are on trial over the attack.
Authorities are keen to stamp out scams, aware they can do just as much to damage tourism as bombs.
“These scandals not only impact the country’s economy... it also impacts our reputation,” the spokesman said. “In turn we expect to receive more quality tourists coming in, not just Chinese but other nationalities too.”
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