Thailand to welcome more quality int'l tourists

BANGKOK, September 30 (TNA) - The Thai government is regulating tour companies and tour guides to cater for more quality international tourists in the future. Thai Deputy Prime Minister General Thanasak Patimapragorn told journalists of the government's policy on Friday, after chairing a meeting with concerned parties at Bangkok's Government House to discuss measures to solve the problem of zero-dollar tour operations. General Thanasak said that the Thai government has paid attention to the solution to the problem of low-quality tour operations to welcome more quality international visitors and will soon discuss with tour operators to regulate tour services in the country. Under the policy, General Thanasak noted, tour services in Thailand will be classified into three categories, including the standard, the gold and the premium ones, to serve different demand levels of international tourists. Besides, the Thai government will regulate tour guides to upgrade their service quality, covering training programs organized yearly for improving their proficiency in foreign languages, mainly the English and the Chinese languages, and an official screening system to prevent illegal tour guides from entering the Thai tourism industry. The deputy premier insisted that the problem of zero-dollar tours, which have partly affected the domestic tourism so far, have had no serious impacts on the number of Chinese tourist arrivals in Thailand as more than 60 per cent of them have arrived in the Thai Kingdom by themselves without seeking any service from tour companies, while only a small part of the rest have participated in zero-dollar tour groups. The deputy prime minister vowed that the Thai government will fairly solve the problem of zero-dollar tour operations based on the legal basis without any discrimination to any country, acknowledging that the solution to the problem of zero-dollar tours needs to take some times and requires cooperation from all concerned sectors. For the problem of zero-dollar or kickback tours, foreign tourists are offered tour packages at lower prices than the real costs but they will be later overcharged through shopping or services at shops in the tour operators' networks, or foreigners come to Thailand on tourist visa but staying to run business illegally under a fraudulent registration, threatening national security. The deputy prime minister, meanwhile, expressed his confidence that Thailand's tourism-related revenues this year would meet the government's target or, at least, being comparable to those of last year. The deputy prime minister also mentioned that Thailand welcomes international travelers to join the annual Vegetarian Festival in the country, this year falls from October 1 to 9, including Chinese visitors, and a Thai delegation will soon organize a roadshow in China to attract more Chinese visitors to Thailand. (TNA)