As repeated cases of fraud, with tour companies ditching their clients, continue to ravage outbound tour businesses, the Thai Travel Agents Association (TTAA) is calling for more effective laws to protect both businesses and consumers.
This week the Tourism Department revoked the licences of five wholesale tour operators after they did not conduct tours to Japan as committed to retail tour operators and tourists, causing damage estimated at 14 million baht involving 400 victims.
Charoen Wangananont, president of the TTAA, said similar cases occur from time to time, making retailers hesitant to sell tour packages offered by wholesale operators because of concerns about possible risks if their clients cannot travel as planned.
He said this problem has been raised many times and tourism operators have repeatedly proposed implementing new regulations to prevent such fraud.
The current regulations protect individual travellers, but do not allow retailers to take legal action against corrupt companies, said Mr Charoen.
"This is a big loophole that enables illegal actions to persist," he said.
In addition to revocation of their licences, these five tour companies cannot conduct tour programmes for five years, according to the Tourism Business and Tourist Guide Act.
Mr Charoen said the tourism law must be amended by increasing the guarantee amount for wholesale business from 60,000 baht to 200,000 baht, the same rate as before the pandemic.
The rate was reduced during the past three years to ease the burden on operators.
The TTAA hopes to rebuild trust between retail and wholesale operators, as both players share a mutual benefit, he said.
Mr Charoen said without tourism packages from wholesalers, retailers would face costly expenses selling their own managed packages, resulting in high prices for customers.
Jaturon Phakdeewanit, director-general of the Tourism Department, said the department mandates companies compensate all plaintiffs.
However, as the cost of the damage exceeded the guarantee amount of 60,000 baht, this case will be transferred to the Office of the Consumer Protection Board to file a separate civil lawsuit against the company, said Mr Jaturon.
He said the department's inspection concluded this case was a scam, with the issue of unusual low fares not considered in this case.
Mr Jaturon said since Thailand reopened its borders, this case marked the worst tourism scam.