BANGKOK, Thailand – Reports of foreign tourists being ripped off by locals are destroying the image of the Thai tourism industry, and environmental activists continue pushing the authorities to drop its plan to build a coal-fired power plant in the South is also keeping tourists away.
Since Friday, the tourism industry has been affected by at least three major scam reports, while calls on authorities to drop the coal-manufacturing plant is keeping tourists away from the South.
Tourism and Sports Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul said yesterday that she acknowledged all the problems and promised to deal with the issues.
So far, only one problem has been solved.
Japanese tourists recently posted a complaint on social media saying that cabbies based in Survarnabhumi Airport demanded ridiculous amounts for taking them to the center of Bangkok.
This complaint spread quickly through social media, with tourists lamenting the bad behavior of local cabbies.
“The ministry will work with the Transport Ministry, the airport authorities and the taxi group to ease this problem,” the minister said.
This problem has been solved since then, with authorities setting up automatic queue-card taxi kiosks.
Meanwhile, over the weekend, a troupe of Malaysian tourists in Chiang Mai posted a complaint on social media saying they were given a bill of Bt150,000 for a four-hour karaoke session.
“The Consumer Protection Board stepped in to help deal with the problem and brought the bill down to about Bt40,000. The ministry has been trying to protect tourists from scam artists,” Kobkarn said.
On Friday, Thailand’s image as a tourism destination was hit further when Business Air was forced to cancel its flight to Bangkok from Incheon, South Korea by the Department of Civil Aviation. This left hundreds of passengers stranded at Incheon airport.
The department said the airline was facing financial problems and was short on cash flow before moving to shut down its operations. Kobkarn said all stranded tourists would get assistance and flown back to Bangkok, adding that her ministry would work with aviation authorities and concerned agencies to prevent such a problem from recurring.
Meanwhile, four representatives of the Krabi anti-coal fired power plant group showed up to protest outside the Tourism and Sports Ministry, calling on the government to protect tourism and the environment.
In a meeting with Kobkarn, the group said they worried that the coal-fired power plant might affect water activities, the environment and damage beaches in Krabi and other areas on the Andaman coast.
Kobkarn promised to ease the problems, saying her ministry will work with other agencies to prevent similar incidents.
