Mr Santi announced the news in response to 200 Chinese-speaking Thai tour guides in Phuket staging a general strike to protest illegal guides still working in the industry.
About 30 of the guides, all from the Chinese-Thai Guide Association and led by Nonphuree Phattarakunakorn, 49, marched on the Phuket MoTS office on Thursday (August 6).
Their mission: to file a formal complaint to Phuket MoTS office director Santi Pawai and demand that officials resolve the issue once and for all.
“For the past six months, Chinese tour companies have been sneaking in their own tour guides and allowing illegal tour guides to work in Phuket without any concern for tourism laws and regulations.
“Even worse, these illegal tour guides have no knowledge of Thai culture. They are destroying Thailand’s tourism image as they conduct tours,” Mr Nonphuree said.
“These illegal guides are costing Thais more and more jobs in Phuket and in other provinces. Many Chinese-speaking Thai tour guides are suffering and we want the authorities to hear our voice and help preserve the legal right for Thai tour guides in accordance with the Tourism Act 2008.”
Mr Nonphuree stated that general strike by about 200 Chinese-speaking Thai tour guides, which began on Tuesday (August 4), will continue until next Wednesday (August 12).
“These Chinese tour companies never listen to Thai guides and continue to allow foreigners to work illegally as guides. If they [the tour companies] never perceive Thai tour guides as valuable assets to them, then Thai guides will no longer work for them,” he said.
Mr Nonphuree said that the tour companies involved repeatedly claim that Phuket does not have enough Chinese-speaking Thai tour guides to serve the burgeoning market.
“This is not true,” he said. “We have more than 2,500 guides in our Chinese-Thai Guide Association today, which is more than enough to cover the tour guides’ duty on the island.
“These tour companies claim that the Thai guides available do not speak Chinese proficiently enough to serve their tours,” Mr Nonphuree explained.
Defending the efforts by the Phuket MoTS office to eradicate illegal guides from Phuket’s tourism industry, Mr Santi said, “I can assure you that we doing all we can to suppress illegal tour guides and we are clearly enforcing every aspect of the Tourism Act 2008.
“Our department has been working closely with many other departments to rid Phuket of foreigners working illegally as tour guides, as it is an occupation reserved for Thais by law.
We have been inspecting tour companies, guides and tourism businesses to check for any illegal activities and constantly inform them of rules and regulations.”
Mr Santi said his office will now move to deport any persons working illegally as tour guides and to any companies found hiring them.
“From now on, any persons arrested for working illegally as tour guides will be deported and their names added to the [Immigration Bureau’s] blacklist so to ensure they can never return to Thailand ever again,” he said.
“Tour companies that provide or employ illegal guides are destroying the tourism industry. If any are found guilty for breaking tourism laws, they will have their businesses suspended, or worse, revoked.
“If you want to be in the tourism business, you must follow the rules and regulations of the Tourism Act,” Mr Santi warned.