Of note, the advisory – written in Chinese languge – informed the Chinese tourists that they should not spend more than B3,000 per person per tour.
The campaign was carried out by more than 50 members of the Thai-Chinese Tourism Alliance Association Phuket office and the Thai Chinese speaking Tour Guide Club, and led by Ronnakris Cheinsangaroon and Nonphuri Phattarakunakornsakul, who each serve as the Secretary at the respective associations.
The list, handed out as the tour buses and vans arrived on the island and passed through the Phuket Checkpoint at Tha Chatchai, gave example prices of tours in Phuket, Krabi and Phang Nga.
Examples included:
One day round trip to Phi Phi - Adult B2,000; Child B1,700
Phang Nga - Adult B1,200; Child B1,000
Koh Racha - Adult B1,500; Child B1,200
Koh Khai Nok - Adult B1,000; Child B800
Krabi four islands - Adult B1,200; Child B1,000
Similan Islands - Adult B2,500; Child B2,200
Koh Khai Nai - Adult B600; Child B600
Mr Ronnakris explained that the suggested tour prices listed were set by the Ministry of Tourism. “This allows tours to be no more than 600 yuan, or B3,000 per person per tour group of 16 people or more,” he said.
“The need to make these leaflets available to tourists came after the government learned that many tour groups were cheating on tour packages and fares, and also to eliminate ‘zero-dollar’ tours,” Mr Ronnakris noted.
The brochure also aims to change negative perspectives about our tourism industry among Chinese, he said.
“We want Chinese tourists to know what tours cost when they visit Thailand, and especially Phuket. They deserve a fair fare, just like everyone else,” Mr Ronnakris added.
“There have been so many illegal guides selling overpriced tour packages to our tourists. We want to preserve the good tourism image of Phuket, and the Kingdom, so we set up this list of standard prices which is available to the public and freely handed out to tourists.”