A combined force of navy officers and Tourism and Sports Ministry officials have arrested two Chinese nationals in Phuket for working illegally as tour guides in a crackdown on tour leaders working without a licence.
The campaign started in Phuket on Wednesday.
The two Chinese nationals were checked by the authorities as they were escorting a group of Chinese tourists on a bus.
Both were arrested after officials found they did not have the required licences to work as tour guides, said Vice Admiral Tharathon Khachitsuwan, chief of the 3rd Region Naval command which led the operation.
They were later charged with working illegally in a profession that is reserved primarily for Thais.
Some of the tourists on the bus told officials the two illegal guides had extorted money from them, forced them to visit places that were not on the itinerary and were rude to them.
The crackdown was ordered following reports that as many as 300 Chinese nationals were illegally operating as tour guides in the southern provinces including Phuket, said Vice Admiral Tharathon.
In Chiang Mai, a tour guide club petitioned the provincial governor yesterday to clamp down on unauthorised Chinese guides.
The club said there were two types of illegal tour guide services operated by Chinese nationals in Chiang Mai — so-called "zero-dollar" tours and KB or "kickback" tours.
The zero-dollar tour charges Chinese tourists a cheap rate for a tour package to Thailand.
The tourists are then transferred on arrival to a tour agency that takes them to stores which sell products at inflated prices or the customers are forced to buy extra tour services.
With the KB tours, Chinese tour agencies based in Thailand pay their counterparts in China to supply them with tourists.
Since they have to pay for the tourists from the beginning, these agencies hire illegal Chinese tour guides who are instructed to make as much money as possible by selling extra tour services.
Meanwhile, Phaisal Suethanuwong, who represents a club of Chinese-speaking tour guides, and 10 other members, lodged a complaint with the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok yesterday asking it to take action against a group of illegal Chinese tour guides operating near the Grand Palace.
They said the guides threatened to attack them after they launched a campaign to crack down on unlicensed Chinese tour guides.