Guiding tours is an occupation reserved solely for Thai nationals, but many tour companies argue that Thai guides do not have the required language skills.
At a meeting yesterday (July 9) of the Phuket Guide Solution Board, Panompol Thammachatniyom , President of the Senate Standing Committee on Tourism’s advisory group, explained, “They completely reject Thai tour guides because they are not good in their language or in terms of quality of service, or are simply regarded as ‘useless’.
“This will remain a recurrent problem as long as some government officers and police take bribes to turn a blind eye to illegal Korean, Russian and Chinese guides.”
Chakkrit Engchuan, Assistant Director of Phuket Provincial Office of Tourism, said that the solution must be to produce guides to meet market needs.
The Prince of Songkhla University, Phuket Campus, along with Phuket Rajabhat University provide courses for tour guides, he said.
However, Sorayut Mallum, representing the Phuket Tourist Association, said the tour guides who complete these courses are still regarded by the tour companies as unsound and unable to do their jobs.
He complained, “Many times action plans have been made to crack down on illegal tour guides but they have never succeeded.
“Indeed, when we went to check on companies employing foreign guides, they had the nerve to complain to the police and to local politicians.”
He, too, said that in some cases bribes were being paid to keep the authorities away. “The problem cannot be controlled because some departments get something from the companies,” he said.
The meeting agreed that most of the cases were found in companies handling tours for Korean, Russian and Chinese tourists.
Japanese companies, in contrast hire Thai tour guides and respect Thai law. They also train their Thai tour guides, Mr Sarayut said, adding, “If the law is not enforced more intensively, illegal guides and companies [that employ them] will become more confident that they can ignore Thai law.”
Mr Panompol urged the meeting not to give in to demands by tour companies to allow foreigners to operate as guides. “Please, do not allow illegal tour guides to abuse us. This is central to preserving Thai culture, tradition and resources.”
Chairing the meeting, Vice-Governor Dr Sommai Preechasin ordered Mr Chakkrit and other relevant departments to arrange undercover teams to spot illegal guide, especially Koreans, Russians and Chinese.