Sistiwat Chivarattanaporn, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents, explained that “these market-destroying tours involve Chinese tour companies using Thai nominees to bring Chinese tourist groups to Thailand at extremely low prices”.
They are engaging in aggressive price undercutting to drive Thai tour companies out of business, intending to monopolize the market eventually. Once the tourists arrive in Thailand, they are coerced into shopping and spending between 70,000 and 100,000 baht each, he said.
“These tours are severely damaging Thailand's tourism image, even more than the zero-dollar tours. It is already causing significant distress to Thai tour operators, and if the government does not address this issue, it is expected that within a year, Thai tour companies will weaken and eventually collapse,” he warned.
