Travel agent attacks tourist

Chinese tourists visit Thailand following the reopening of China's borders.
Chinese tourists visit Thailand following the reopening of China's borders.

The Tourism and Sports Ministry is investigating a case involving a Chinese tourist who was assaulted by a travel agent in Phuket after the case went viral.

A viral TikTok clip showed a Chinese tourist being assaulted with a knife by a member of staff at a tour agency in Phuket during an altercation after the agency was unable to return in full a 5,000-baht deposit for a Similan Islands tour package.

The tourist claimed the members of the group were left stranded at their hotel on the morning of Jan 31, when they were supposed to take the tour.

The Tourism and Sports Ministry has gathered information in order to file a lawsuit against Blue Ocean Travel, the tour agency allegedly involved.

Phuket Police already investigated the case and charged the offender with assault causing injury and carrying a weapon, while the tourists returned to China on Feb 2.

The Tourist Police, tourism associations in Phuket and the Tourist Business and Guide Registration office will meet the Chinese consul today to apologise.

As the first batch of Chinese tour groups to visit Thailand since the reopening arrived on Monday, the Tourism Authority of Thailand said the number of Chinese tourists this year could reach 7-8 million.

As of Monday, China now allows tour groups to visit 20 countries, including Thailand, after scrapping all quarantine measures for inbound arrivals since last month.

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Vocabulary

  • altercation: a noisy argument or disagreement - การทุ่มเถียง, การทะเลาะวิวาท
  • apologise: to say you are sorry for doing something wrong or for causing a problem - ขอโทษ
  • assault (verb): to attack someone violently, either physically or in some other way, e.g., smell - ทำร้ายร่างกาย, ทำร้าย
  • assault (noun): a sudden, violent attack - การทำร้าย
  • consul: an official chosen by a government to live in a foreign city, in order to take care of people from the official's own country who travel or live there, and to protect the trade interests of that government - กงสุล
  • deposit: a sum of money which is given in advance as part of a total payment for something - เงินมัดจำ
  • lawsuit: a case that a court is asked to decide involving a disagreement between two people or groups - คดีที่ยื่นฟ้องต่อศาล
  • offender: a person who is guilty of a crime - ผู้กระทำความผิด
  • quarantine (noun): a situation in which a person or animal that might have a disease is kept separate from other people or animals so that they do not catch the disease - การกักบริเวณ, การจำกัดบริเวณ
  • scrapping: giving up; stopping - ยุติ
  • stranded: left somewhere with no way of going anywhere else - ปล่อยเกาะ ถูกทิ้งไว้
  • supposed to: expected or required to be; should be - ควรจะ, ควรจะเป็น
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