Senator Nantana” raised a question about ways to help Thai tourism businesses solve the nominee problem, the advance of black capital, sarcastically saying that there are officials who are criticized as angels who use the law unfairly. “Suang” insisted that he would not be complacent, closing 40 companies to solve the flight problem – issuing measures to help, hoping to boom during the high season.

The Senate meeting today (October 21) was chaired by Mr. Mongkol Surassajja, President of the Senate. He considered the question on measures to manage the problem of guided tours and promote the sustainability of the Thai tourism business, which Ms. Nantana Nantvaropa, Senator, set up to ask about urgent and emergency measures and immediate measures to prevent and help Thai tourism operators to fight against gray capital, how to solve the problem of capital businesses with nominees to prevent foreigners from entering, including how to improve the laws or regulations controlling the tourism business to prevent the
registration of nominee capital, which is an encroachment of foreign capital to dominate the Thai tourism business, including how to make the officials who are criticized as gods perform the duty of controlling and enforcing the law seriously and fairly, and if anyone finds that government officials are protecting these capitals, where should they contact to report clues so that Thai tourism will always be bright?

Mr. Surawong Thienthong, Minister of Tourism and Sports, explained that he had talked to affected operators and people. If the problem is to be eliminated, cooperation from tour guides is needed to handle the problem internally because various registrations have clear requirements according to the law. The Ministry of Tourism, the Department of Tourism, and the Tourist Police have been working hard, arresting and developing an AI system to help take care of the issue of taking advantage of tourists and operators.

Mr. Surawong said that the tourism and tour guide business laws stipulate, for exampl
e, that only Thai nationals must hold shares, while Thai juristic persons must hold no less than 51% of the shares. Thai nationals have the authority to sign. In addition, to solve the immediate problem, the Ministry of Tourism has issued measures to make an agreement with 6 agencies: the Department of Tourism, the Office of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, the Department of Business Development, the Department of Special Investigation, the Tourist Police Bureau, and the Immigration Bureau. Establish an operation center to solve the problem of tourism operators using Thais as nominees, performing random inspections. Initially, it was found that up to 40 companies had changed their shareholder details, so they were ordered to close. In addition, there is an integration to update with the Department of Commerce on the composition of shareholders in real time.

In the long term, Mr. Surawong said that there have been discussions to draft the bill. In this regard, after discussing wi
th business operators, it was found that many tourists want to travel to Thailand, but there are problems with airline restrictions. Therefore, cooperation has been requested that during the next 3 months, flights that used to be reduced and canceled during COVID, especially from India, be increased. The government has also planned a project for tourism during the high season. He confirmed that the government is not indifferent to the issue of zero-dollar tours taking advantage of Thai operators and must look at the booking system that disadvantages Thailand. Therefore, we must try to develop our tourism towards countries with potential.

Mr. Surawong added that the Tourist Police and the Department of Tourism have set clear measures, arresting and ordering the closure of more than 40 tour companies. If the operators have any doubts or suggestions, they can point out the targets and promise to try to eliminate all of this illegal capital.

As for tourism, Mr. Surawong is confident that the measures that have
been implemented have made entrepreneurs understand the government’s immediate assistance measures, such as the upcoming Thailand Winter Festival, which will provide benefits to tourists and entrepreneurs, especially those affected by the floods. The government has implemented assistance measures, such as extending the tax payment period and issuing soft loans to facilitate access to funding sources.

‘As for the issue of reducing corruption, I am certain that in my generation, when I am the minister, I will try my best to make the people and tourism business operators feel at ease. I will try my best to strictly prevent any dirty things from happening in the ministry. If anyone has any information, they can contact the ministry and send a sealed letter to Mr. Surawong Thienthong,’ said Mr. Surawong.-

Source: Thai News Agency