Fund planned to aid preyed-upon tourists

According to Vachara Kannikar, the ministry’s spokesman, travel agents would have to contribute to the fund. The government might also make a contribution. The objective is to make tour operators more responsible in their dealings with tourists. Often, fierce competition in the industry leads to unfair treatment of clients, Vachara said.
It is too early to reveal the size of the contributions and of the overall fund, he said.
The initiative was prompted in part by the bankruptcy last month of Russian travel agency Lanta Voyage Co, which left more than 500 Russian tourists stranded in Thailand. The ministry stepped in to help them initially, and the expense of resolving the situation was eventually paid by the Russian government.
“The case serves as a reminder that it’s essential to have a fund like this. It’s a bit like insurance. However, [setting up the fund] is a very difficult task because it involves multiple parties,’’ Vachara said.
He said the issue would be discussed at length in the near future. If it goes ahead, the service will likely cover travel in Thailand before expanding to cover Thais travelling abroad. He accepted that it would push up costs for travel agents, which could hurt their competitiveness. However, it would be good for the industry in the long run, he said.
Maiyarat Pheerayakoses, president of the Association of Domestic Travel, declined to comment specifically on the proposed fund, but said the government should tighten enforcement of existing laws. At present, she said, it is not hard for businesses to set up and operate domestic, inbound and outbound tour services with just a Bt200,000 bank guarantee. Several firms that were punished for breaking the law soon reopened for business, Maiyarat said.
“I want the government to follow the legal process for wrongdoers. They should be punished seriously, like in drug cases. If the government could do that successfully, the fund would be unnecessary. I want the government to tackle the causes of the problem, not the results,’’ she said.
Along with the fund, the ministry will start to amend the 2008 legislation on the tourism business and tour guides to cope with the changing business environment ahead of 2015. Vachara acknowledged that the ministry had been a bit late in kicking off its preparations, but said that over the next two months, a series of discussions and meetings would be held to seek possible courses of action.
To attract 30 million tourists and total spending of Bt2.22 trillion in 2015, he said, the ministry will have to look for ways to modernise existing tourism regulations and laws, some of which affect other agencies and ministries. One of the ministry’s aims is to ensure Thailand maintains its leadership position in the tourism industry post-AEC.
Kajorn Weerajai, deputy director-general of the Tourism Ministry’s Tourism Department, said that this year the agency planned to launch several projects. One would curb the activities of illegal travel agencies and tour guides. It will also look for ways to increase the number of tour guides who speak Russian, Korean and Mandarin.