Krich Thepbamrung, acting president of the Phuket Tour Guide Association led more than 200 tour guides to Provincial Hall yesterday morning (Sept 21) to hand a letter of complaint to Governor Nisit Jansomwong, and a copy which they requested be passed to the Ministry of Sport and Tourism in Bangkok.
“We want local officials to seriously enforce the 2008 Tourism Business and Tour Guides Act and put a stop to illegal tour guides working in Phuket,” said Mr Krich.
“The ongoing problem of illegal tour guides in Phuket comes from tour companies operated by foreigners who claim that Thailand does not have enough tour guides and that the Thai tour guides we do have do not speak foreign languages proficiently enough to serve their tours.
“We have protested and filed complaints many times and yet this issue has not been solved.
“The only reason this issue still remains is possibly because of corruption between local officials and tour companies, and we want the Ministry to investigate why the 2008 Tourism Business and Tour Guides Act is hardly ever enforced.
“These illegal guides are losing more and more Thai people their jobs and they are destroying Thailand’s tourism image,” said Mr Krich.
Mr Krich went on to explain, “Our mission is for all departments involved in tourism to solve this hurdle by fully enforcing the 2008 Tourism Business and Tour Guides Act on all illegal guides and tour companies.
“We want the governor to investigate the work of local tourism and sport officials who are involve in cracking down on illegal tour guides on the island because in the past Phuket Tourism and Sport representatives have said they do not have enough officials to help crackdown on the issue and arrest illegal guides.
“Many times after investigating and looking for illegal tour guides they say the have found no suspicious activity,” he concluded.
In response, Gov Nisit said, “I understand that officials have been unable to stop illegal guides on the island. Many times I have ordered officials to crackdown on this issue and arrest illegal guides.
“This issue is not easy to tackle due to the high number of tourists we have. However, I will talk to local officials this afternoon and find the best solution to solve this issue to preserve the island's tourism image and keep tour guide jobs for Thai people.”
Also replying to the allegations, Santi Pawai, the director of the Ministry of Tourism (MoTS) Phuket office yesterday told The Phuket News today that after meeting with Gov Nisit his office has been working hard every day to crackdown on this issue.
“Our department alone does not have the authority to arrest anyone, we rely on the help of the tourist police to arrest illegal guides, and in the past we have arrested many of them. However, to preserve our tourism image not all of the arrests have been exposed to local media.
“I understand that local tour guides presume we do not enforce the law, but we do every day. Most guides and tour companies will receive a warning first then arrests will be made if they continue to hire illegal guides,” he said.
“In the meeting today, Gov Nisit wanted a committee set up which will be made up of Thai tour guides, tourist police, Damrongdhama officials and MoTS officials and will work together on finding illegal tour guides.
“Everything we do or have done follows the protocol and procedures set out by Tourism Ministry, so it is alright if our department is under the spotlight or under investigation. If I am going to be transferred or lose my job for doing my job, so be it,” he concluded.