What is the truth about China tourists being forced to shop in Thailand?

Traveling abroad is just to meet "Thailand". Recently, 10 tourists from China were traveling in Thailand, and the incident that the tour guide forced them to spend money and abused them caused widespread concern. On the afternoon of May 12, Weibo, the official headquarters of the National Tourism Administration of Thailand in Bangkok, announced that the Thai police had arrested the male "tour guide" involved, who was a foreign black tour guide who was engaged in tourism illegally in Thailand without a tour guide card. At the same time, two Thai officials working in travel agencies were arrested.

Travel to Thailand encounters compulsory consumption.

A tourist "fled" late at night

Recently, there are 10 China tourists traveling in Thailand, and they really can't stand the guide's forced consumption and abuse of "fleeing". Thai police have arrested the black tour guide involved. Yesterday, Ms. Ma, a passenger, said in an interview with Beijing Youth Daily that her tour group consisted of ten people. When the tour guide met for the first time, he said "it's the first time to take such a small group" and hinted that "if you want to have fun, you must take the itinerary of the self-funded project he introduced."

On July 7th, the fifth night of the trip, 10 tourists decided to "leave the group" privately and fled back to Bangkok, because they really couldn't stand the insults and threats of the tour guide and were worried about their personal safety. Ms. Ma said that the reason why she had to leave the group only 32 hours before the scheduled return time was because "it was unbearable".

According to Ms. Ma, this trip to Thailand is their honeymoon trip and their first trip abroad. It is clearly stated in the travel contract that the travel expenses are 2 180 yuan per person, and the minimum number of team members is 30. The outbound travel agency is a travel agency in Chongqing, and cooperates with the Chengdu branch of a travel agency to fulfill the contract. According to the contract, passengers will stay in a local four-star or five-star hotel in Thailand and mark "voluntary shopping". However, in Ms. Ma's view, her local accommodation in Thailand is completely different from the propaganda description of the travel agency. "A few nights in a hostel is even worse."

Ms. Ma said that for such a gap, the tourists in the group had asked the local tour guide, and the other party responded: "Don't worry, this is how the company arranged it." During the subsequent trip, the tour guide arranged nearly half the time in the store every day. After the tourists complained to the domestic travel agencies, they got the reply that they should be considerate of the hard work of the tour guides.

The most serious conflict occurred on May 7, the fifth day of the trip. The itinerary of the day includes a shopping spot "Latex Center". Because everyone spent less money, the local tour guide shouted, "I don't believe you need to push" and "in a word, push until you succeed"

This remark immediately aroused the dissatisfaction of China's team leader. The leader said, "Who told you to talk like that?" Unexpectedly, local tour guides have intensified. In the video of the incident taken by tourists, the tour guide pointed to the direction of the car door and shouted: "Otherwise, you can get off directly!" Then he said, "Don't get on the bus tomorrow morning! Take a taxi back to Bangkok! " After learning that the tour leader was going to report to the group travel agency, the man said, "It's no use complaining a hundred times."

Ms. Ma's husband, Mr. Liang, said that the trip was actually to return to China by plane at 3 am on the 9 th, but we really couldn't stand it and decided to "escape" in advance. On the same day, everyone pretended to go out for a walk and communicated with the soliciting driver through the mobile phone translation software. It took two hours to get in touch with a van.

Black tour guides are threatening China tourists.

Thai police arrested the black tour guide involved.

Find out the "guide commission for tourists to buy pillows"

On the afternoon of April, Weibo, the official of Bangkok Headquarters of Thailand National Tourism Administration, issued a circular on this matter. According to the report, the black tour guide was arrested by the police in Pattaya on the evening of May 1 1.

According to the National Tourism Administration of Thailand, after the incident on May 7, the video of "Thailand's black tour guide angered tourists and forced to buy latex pillows" was widely forwarded, attracting a large number of netizens' attention, and the video was played 3 million times, which gradually had a certain negative impact on the image of Thailand's tourism industry. "After learning about this situation, our bureau has urgently contacted the Thai Tourism Police to deal with it seriously and give an account to China tourists."

On the evening of June 1 1, Major General Suracher, deputy director of Thailand Tourism Police, led a team to cooperate with Pattaya Tourism Police and Immigration Police to collect nets, and captured Li Hai, a male black tour guide with a nationality of 2 1 year old, in Pattaya. In the police station, Li Hai confessed to the behavior of threatening tourists to spend money in the video and causing tourists to turn back late at night. According to his account, during the incident, he took 10 tourists from China to a latex center in Pattaya to buy latex pillows in order to collect kickbacks from them. Because the number of buyers was small and they didn't make any money, they made excessive remarks to intimidate tourists, causing tourists to leave the group and return to Bangkok.

According to the investigation by the staff of the tourist police, this China man works for TYT Travel Agency in Thailand, without a tour guide card, and belongs to a foreign black tour guide who is engaged in illegal tourism in Thailand. This incident caused some losses to the good image of Thailand's tourism industry. The police arrested Li Hai and two Thai tour leaders of TYT Travel Agency for "illegally engaging in the tour guide industry without permission". Next, the Thai police will severely punish him according to Thai law.

Tourists complain after returning home.

The travel agency has refunded the tour fare.

Ms. Ma introduced that 10 people in the group came from different travel agencies. "I know that I am from different registration points, and I don't know if there is any tricks behind it." In this regard, the staff of Chengdu Tourism Bureau told the reporter of Beiqing Daily that the group fight of travel agencies complies with the relevant provisions of the Tourism Law, but it must be informed and agreed by tourists.

In addition, according to Ms. Ma's memory, after China tourists "selfishly quit the tour group" on the evening of May 7th 10, the tour leader from China hoped that they would not quit the tour group. Some tourists suggested meeting directly at Bangkok airport the next day. "But I can't see the tour guide in Bangkok again." So, around 5 pm on the 8th, 10 tourists and tour leaders gathered at the duty-free center near the airport. According to the previous plan, 1 1 people flew home at 3 am on the 9th.

Before the plane took off, the tour leader of China asked 10 tourists to sign a mediation agreement, saying it was to "safeguard the interests of everyone and the company". This request was rejected by tourists. At that time, some tourists released videos of themselves being abused by tour guides in Thailand, which quickly attracted attention.

On the morning of, another member of the tour group, Ms. Rong, had just returned to Chengdu when she called the national tourist service hotline 1230 1 to complain and uploaded the information. Subsequently, Chengdu Tourism Bureau and Qingyang District Culture, Sports, Radio, Film and Television Tourism Bureau under the jurisdiction of the incident travel agency quickly intervened in the investigation.

However, according to Ms. Ma's husband, Mr. Liang, on the afternoon of May 10, the travel agency she signed up for agreed to compensate her husband and wife 800 yuan in RMB, but refused her request for a refund of the tour fee.

Another travel agency only agreed to compensate 200 yuan per person. In the evening, the last travel agency contacted everyone and agreed to compensate 100 tourists 1000 yuan, but the negotiation ended in failure again.

Until the afternoon of 1 1, the domestic travel agency sent the head of the tour group to Chengdu, refunded all the registration fees of the members of the tour group 10, and promised to follow up some compensation measures later, and the two sides finally reached an understanding. Ms. Ma said, "I hope similar things will never happen again."

remind

In Thailand, you can call the police for help.

The Chengdu office of Thailand National Tourism Administration issued a reminder that in recent years, with the increase of tourists to Thailand, some problems have followed. Some domestic travel agencies attract customers at low prices, which greatly reduces the itinerary, reception level and safety factor, and directly threatens the rights and interests of tourism consumers. To this end, the tourism bureaus of China and Thailand will jointly promote quality tourism. In view of the "zero-negative tour fee", we should formulate corresponding measures, correctly guide consumers, conduct industry management for tourism practitioners, and truly reward China tourists with high-quality Thailand tour products.

According to the National Tourism Administration of Thailand, in order to give passengers more diversified choices, many travel itineraries now include self-funded itineraries. "So, while knowing the itinerary in detail, we should also know which projects need to be paid at our own expense and what the price is. These must be explained by the travel agency or even informed in writing. Especially for self-funded projects, the price should be clearly marked. "

In case of emergency, visitors can call the customer service center of Thailand National Tourism Administration 1672, the tourist police hotline1kloc-0/55 (with Chinese service), the Thailand alarm telephone 19 1, and the emergency telephone 1669.