Crime Russian Tour Guides in Hot Water Amid Phuket Police Sting

[webfact]

Picture courtesy of The Phuket News

 

Thailand's tourist gem, Phuket, witnessed a dramatic turn as Tourist Police cracked down on illegal tour operations, arresting two Russian nationals and fining two tour companies in a strategic move against unlicensed activities in the tourism sector.

 

The operation, executed on April 23, was led by Police Lieutenant Colonel Ekkachai Siri alongside multiple police units and the Southern Region 2 Tourist Business and Guide Registration Office. Their mission was clear: to uphold the Tourist Business and Guide Act by clamping down on foreigners illegally working in Thailand's tourism industry.

 

Police reported catching two Russians in the act, serving as unlicensed tour guides — an infringement of Thai law that reserves such roles for Thai nationals only.

 

One individual was caught at the Laem Tukkae public beach pier on Koh Siray, and the other at Baan Hin Rom Pier in Klong Khian, Phang Nga's Takua Thung district.

 

 

 

The crackdown also saw two tour companies fined under Section 33 of the Tourist Business and Guide Act. Violations included failing to submit tour guide work orders for inspection and not providing licensed Thai guides, a legal requirement aimed at maintaining service quality and protecting local employment.

 

These breaches were found during an unannounced inspection at Wat Khao Kok Kloy Waterfall in Phang Nga's Kok Kloy area, attracting both local and foreign visitors.

 

Despite the operation's prominence, authorities have withheld the identities of those involved.

 

This operation is part of a comprehensive drive to clean up the tourism sector amid rising visitor numbers in the post-pandemic travel upturn. Authorities are ramping up inspections and adopting a no-tolerance approach to illegal tour operations circumventing Thai licensing laws.

 

As tourism remains a cornerstone of Thailand's economy, officials urge businesses to align with legal stipulations, cautioning foreign nationals that unlicensed guiding can result in severe repercussions.

 

 

  Adapted by ASEAN Now from The Thaiger 2025-04-25

 

 

 

[Tropicalevo]

It would be easy for the tour companies to get around this little issue.

More expensive, but easy.

But I guess that greed has no limits.

[Gottfrid]

Pesky Russians

[sharot724]

Can we buy them a ticket to the Front Lines?

[ikke1959]

The protection labour laws of Thailand. I am wondering if the same stupid law was enforced in the Western countries.. How many Thais would go on holiday with only a foreign guide as Thai guides were forbidden. Guiding is only for the people who are persons of the country itself.. Impossible for a Thai to get permission or workpermit to guide Thais around... They would complain and they would not travel anymore.. When gets Thailand the brains that guides are needed for tourists and if you don't get good guides tourism will go down... But the conservatism in Thailand is gigantic...

[Magictoad]

Surely it can't be difficult to find the necessary Thais fluent in Russian?

[NativeBob]

There are so many things to do at Phuket, why "guiding"? Too dumb too greedy? Well then "welcome to natural selection" kids. 

[Hakuna Matata]

2 hours ago, Gottfrid said:

Pesky Russians

 

Yes, this is a step in the right direction! More strict law enforcement is required in Phuket, Pattaya, Samui, etc.

 

[Hakuna Matata]

24 minutes ago, Magictoad said:

Surely it can't be difficult to find the necessary Thais fluent in Russian?

 

I understand your sarcasm.

 

However, if there are no illegal Russian tour guides in Thailand, the salary for Thai nationals will rise 2 times. So there will be incentive for them to learn Russian in order to be able speak better.

[hotchilli]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand's tourist gem, Phuket, witnessed a dramatic turn as Tourist Police cracked down on illegal tour operations, arresting two Russian nationals and fining two tour companies in a strategic move against unlicensed activities in the tourism sector.

Only fining the two tour companies....

If they were serious they would have shut the companies down.

[1duckyboy]

4 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

It would be easy for the tour companies to get around this little issue.

More expensive, but easy.

But I guess that greed has no limits.

 

Being that the tour companies are not named, I believe the door to getting around this issue is still ajar.

[Dave0206]

The Thai guides are able to take them from 1 "gemstore " to another " thai local made products factory outlets" I wonder if they are so strict with Chinese tour operators  on zero dollar tours

[Robbkk]

56 minutes ago, ikke1959 said:

The protection labour laws of Thailand. I am wondering if the same stupid law was enforced in the Western countries.. How many Thais would go on holiday with only a foreign guide as Thai guides were forbidden. 

 

Exactly. Tour guides in every other country are from the same nationality as the tourists they are guiding. How many Thais speak Russian? Authorities are just killing economic activity. The tour guide may not be Thai but he would spend all his money in the Thai economy. But now there will be no tour and tourists will just take their money back home. But glad that the Russian speaking Thai tour guides were protected. Laws like this are the reason why Thailand is poor. 

[Robbkk]

22 minutes ago, Hakuna Matata said:

the salary for Thai nationals will rise 2 times. So there will be incentive for them to learn Russian in order to be able speak better.

 

I hope you are being sarcastic. Thai tour guides barely speak any English and you expect them to learn Russian? Learning a language is a lifelong endeavor. Nobody is doing that to become a tour guide. 

 

I went on an island tour recently and the tour guide told amazing stories about the islands to the Thai group but in English we were only told about the itinerary and the lunch menu, because his English was so limited. 

[Iron Tongue]

38 minutes ago, Hakuna Matata said:

 

I understand your sarcasm.

 

However, if there are no illegal Russian tour guides in Thailand, the salary for Thai nationals will rise 2 times. So there will be incentive for them to learn Russian in order to be able speak better.

Nope.

It wouldn't work that way.

IF Russian-speaking Thais can be found as tour guides, they'd be paid less than these Russians.

There wouldn't be too many opportunities for Russian-speaking Thais beyond tourism, and don't assume that Thai business owners to naturally think of fairly compensating their employees.

 

[CANSIAM]

Take your time with your 'sting' operations been years now.....maybe have a look at more hair salons, restaurants, bars, taxi service, teachers, nail salons, rental property agents, motorbike rentals.....etc 

[Jiggo]

Phuket Thailands tourist gem, lol...May be 30 years ago.

[jippytum]

A police publicity sting exposed two prominent companies breaking the law. 

however the companies were not named or closed down. 

why????...... Brown envelopes to follow. 

[arick]

Tourist police are useless 

[off road pat]

1 hour ago, Hakuna Matata said:

 

I understand your sarcasm.

 

However, if there are no illegal Russian tour guides in Thailand, the salary for Thai nationals will rise 2 times. So there will be incentive for them to learn Russian in order to be able speak better.

Hm, ... Like they are already fluent in English ???

[riverhigh]

In my home country its not allowed for someone to come in on holiday and do a kitchen renovation instead. Thailand is doing what most other countries are doing ... job protection. 

[frank83628]

4 hours ago, sharot724 said:

Can we buy them a ticket to the Front Lines?

I'll buy you one too. 

[harleyclarkey]

Pathetic food for a few locals. 

Two businesses plus two individuals? What, out of the hundreds operating in the open and right under the noses of those useless corrupt cops. 

Ah., did I say corrupt? There lies the answer as to why the others still operate. 

[kwilco]

Tour guides, small businesses, gyms...so many undocumented workers and not just Russian, many Brits are involved.

[NativeBob]

1 hour ago, Iron Tongue said:

There wouldn't be too many opportunities for Russian-speaking Thais beyond tourism

Yep. Just some puny work as import-export managers at agro industry, construction, food and some precious stones and jewelry. Not many, right? 

Our village neighbor's son doing some useless activity with fertilizers from RU, young man get paid about 5K/month + social + bonuses.

Tourism is for bored housewives or hobby for retired extraverts. 

[saintdomingo]

4 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Only fining the two tour companies....

If they were serious they would have shut the companies down.

Bring back the birch.

[geisha]

6 hours ago, CANSIAM said:

Take your time with your 'sting' operations been years now.....maybe have a look at more hair salons, restaurants, bars, taxi service, teachers, nail salons, rental property agents, motorbike rentals.....etc 

Yes, the Russians have been working in Phuket for donkeys ears . They were already there in Kata when I left in 2005 to go to Hua Hin.  They’ve got their own circle of workers, taxis , restaurants, everything mentioned by CANSIAM above. One day tried a new massage shop. The girl could speak English, I noticed that she was probably living there seeing her stuff in the back . I asked if the shop was hers, and she said no, it belonged to a Russian.  I was amazed, didn’t know that they were branching out to foreign customers. They usually stick to their own. 
I went back to see friends after Covid, and when Putin attacked Ukraine. The rouble had crashed .  There was ( is?) a Russian restaurant on the main rd, opp the old Kata beach resort / taxi rank. It was packed to the rafters every night I walked by, even had queues waiting outside. Just shows how many Russians are in small Kata beach. My Thai friend told me that they had bought up all the cheap new built condos around, and also had built villas/ houses illegally, land that was not to be built on. Well, three years later ( a few months ago August 24, , it was on AN news) the mountain up to Big Bouddha had collapsed and taken a lot of properties with it , down to the main road. 
20 years back the locals tried to burn down the front awnings and signs of Russian shops. I think they’ve just given up. 

[kwilco]

Learning Russian and other languages - certainly!

Top 5 visitors Q1 32025 are..
1.    China: Still the largest source number of visitors,  but drops in their numbers are worrying because of the size of the market.
2.     Malaysia: For years they were number one largely due to Thailand's proximity to Malaysia. 
3.    Then  Russia so learning Russian is useful to Thais in the tourist industry – and more and more are taking up classes. Thailand imports from Russia steel products, chemicals, rubber, minerals, oil and petroleum products, and ex[ports quite a lot too. but Russia’s main interests in Thailand are property developments.
4.    India’s bourgeoning middle classes and ease of visa appeals
5.    South Korea: Probably the most popular visitors amongst Thais reflecting the country's strong interest in Thai tourism. Lot of Thai people learning Korean not just for tourism but because of the amount of Korean industry in the country and the possibility of employment in Korea.
Only then do you get UK and USA but also Taiwan – basically the Asian market is big, partly at least due to the proximity and shorter flight times.
But since Brexit the popularity of learning English in industry has reduced significantly and schools are responding to students market by setting up courses in other, Asian Languages including Russian.

[Sierra Tango]

7 hours ago, Robbkk said:

 

I hope you are being sarcastic. Thai tour guides barely speak any English and you expect them to learn Russian? Learning a language is a lifelong endeavor. Nobody is doing that to become a tour guide. 

 

I went on an island tour recently and the tour guide told amazing stories about the islands to the Thai group but in English we were only told about the itinerary and the lunch menu, because his English was so limited. 

How did you know that the stories were amazing if you don't understand Thai. How many different nationalities were on your tour? Itinerary and lunch sounds good to me. Oh, and when can we get off the friggin boat and get a beer.

[smew]

putin sheep, brave here and chicken <deleted> back home...