Thai tourism firms want foreign rivals curbed

A report in the Bangkok Post sasy that local tourism businesses have urged the government to take stiffer measures to prevent foreign investors from running tourism businesses.

The Thai 1992 Travel Agency Business and Guide Act says that only Thai nationals can operate such businesses.

In addition, tour guides in particular are on List 3 of the Foreign Business Act, which classifies business in which Thai nationals are not yet ready to compete with foreigners, but many foreigners have used Thai nominees to bypass the law and run local operations, said Anake Srishevachart, head of the Thai-Japan Tourist Association, adding, local tourism companies were hurting and that revenue Thailand should be earning was leaving the country.

Mr Anake, also the President of the Thai Travel Agents Association, said a large number of travel agencies had been formed with foreign and Thai investors to focus on big tourist markets such as South Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.

The firms were registered as Thai and the shareholdings of foreigners were represented by Thai nominees, adding, ”We do not reject foreign investment but the investment should obey local laws,” and that what concerned him is the service standard of the operators, saying, ”Some companies operate hit-and-run business that might hurt the industry.”

Kongkrit Hiranyakit, president of the Tourism Council of Thailand, agreed that tourism revenue should go to local coffers as tourism utilised Thai natural resources adding, Thai operators have the capability to compete with foreigners in terms of management but many lack capital.

Operators have also urged the Tourism and Sports Ministry make more serious attempts to build quality tourism by introducing concrete plans to improve tourist spots with appropriate budgets.

Apichart Sankary, President of the Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA), said the Ministry at present appeared to be carrying out only routine tasks at a time when tourism could be helping to revive the economy.

Local operators believe authorities have not provided enough plans to bring back Asian tourists, the number of which fell 10% in the first quarter due to poor domestic conditions, security concerns and the strong baht.

They noted that Asian arrivals accounted for 50% of the 13.8 million foreign tourists who visited thailand in 2006.

Tourism and Sports Minister Suvit Yodmani acknowledged that negative domestic factors including political unrest led to very slight growth in foreign tourist arrivals via Suvarnabhumi Airport in the first quarter, with the total 2.6 million, up just 1.8% from the same period last year.

Arrivals from East Asia fell 8.3% year-on-year, with China and Japan posting declines of 8.1% and 7.4% respectively, however, arrivals from some other regions rose significantly such as the Middle East, up 30%, Europe (13%) and South Asia (7%).

Dr Suvit has asked the Tourism Authority of Thailand to do more marketing in the second half to assure 14.5 million foreign arrivals this year.

Report by The Mole with material from the Bangkok Post