Foreign Diplomats To Meet With Thai Tourism Minister To Find Solutions To Tourist Scams

[welcometothailand]

you can't teach an old dog new tricks as the saying goes ,,

[pauljones]

Start the investigations at the airport.

Remember the duty free shoplifting scam run by the police?

The former PM vowed to look into it no?

Details here:

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=bangkok+dutyfree+shoplifting+scam&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

[xthAi76s]

Hilarious. Let's see what happens.

In the interim, people should just not goto these places. But, hell, half the members here probably live in Pattaya which is one of the worst ripoff and most disgusting places on the planet. So, I would imagine for many of them Phuket is a paradise!

[Ricardo]

How about all TV members boycott Phuket? It's a start, & might spread virally over the www......

My family & I already do, there are plenty of other places, where the scams & rip-offs are less-blatant ! Vote with your Wallet !

[n1sse]

What are the police to do? They are som of the worst scamers you have around Thailand. A friend of mine have a small restaurant and she is furius at the police, they will go there to eat and drink acouple a times a week and then they dont pay for what they have orderd. Yesterday I where dining there and overheared the policeman tell her that if she have complains they can close her restaurant for her instead. So what are the police to do about scams...

[fire and ice]

Suggestion #1: Offer a decent wage to police who actually do their job properly...

They will just happily accept the higher pay and still get the same tea money they already do.

[Rosco911]

I guess the sports minister does not know about the scams if it needs to meet with 6 ambassadors of other counties to find out whats happening.

[ricardofel]

What a joke! Hellooooooo....it's not just Phuket, it's Bangkok, it's Chiang Mai...everywhere tourists go. How long have these rip-offs been happening...for years!!!! What a joke!!

[oldgent]

EDUCATION making the tourist aware of all the scams would be a start.

but somehow i dont think that will happen

[WackySomchai]

Why doesn't Chalerm appoint his son Mr. Toilet to clean this mess up?

[unanimosity]

Not so easy to stop when it would appear that the scams are taking place with either the actual involvement, or at least a financially rewarding blind-eye from those who should be stopping them. The BIB and the local authority and politicians are all tarnished by this scandal, but then it is a Democrat area, so utter corruption is only to be expected, and it thrived under the Abhisit puppet regime's total lack of action.

Surprised that all those who have posted on TV over the last few years decrying the utter disgrace of Patong, nobody bothered to ask why the Government of the day was doing nothing about it. Did they all know that it was largely due to Abhisit's total incompetence that the scams grew out of control?

No disagreement with the incompetence issue, but in all fairness the responsibility is not at the feet of a prime minister for provincial or municipal crime and corruption. Unless of course, his deputy Mr. S. was interfering with eradication of the problems by the southern governor, at whose feet the the blame and the buck stops, literally and figuratively.

[unanimosity]

What a joke! Hellooooooo....it's not just Phuket, it's Bangkok, it's Chiang Mai...everywhere tourists go. How long have these rip-offs been happening...for years!!!! What a joke!!

You must live in Pattaya, conspicuously absent from your rant.

[unanimosity]

[quote name='warfie' timestamp='1329818044' post='5075402

Suggestion #1: Offer a decent wage to police who actually do their job properly...

Suggestion #1: Offer a decent wage to police who actually do their job properly...

The problem is not the "decent wage". The problem is the endemic corruption that comes from the top to street level. Policemen who do shake downs, charge for protection, on the take from the motorci drivers, the tuk-tuk gangs, beer bars, illigal casinos etc. collect and send up the ladder a chunck of the proceeds. That is common knowledge. Positions in the force are purchased as well as promotions. The money goes up the ladder. If you think that higher wagers will clean up their act, then you also believe in the Tooth Fairy.

Exactly, it ain't over till the top brass setting the street cop quotas say it's over.

[unanimosity]

I guess the sports minister does not know about the scams if it needs to meet with 6 ambassadors of other counties to find out whats happening.

Act concerned, smile a lot, then laugh when they leave. Stupid farangs expect Thailand to lose face? Neva happen.

[americaninbangkok]

"... the Tourism and Sports Ministry will be blacklisting jewelry shops which sell low-quality items at inflated prices. The names of those shops will be put on the website of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports as well as that of the Department of Tourism."

But just like the various illegal nightclubs that get raided periodically, the owners just change the name and go back into business, re-starting the cycle (I don't believe this is the cycle of life that the Buddha talked about).

[pauljones]

A lady at the TAT confided in me the Tourist Police are involved in the gem scam.

They take complaints from visitors all day long, act concerned and do nothing about it.

[JohnAllan]

Not so easy to stop when it would appear that the scams are taking place with either the actual involvement, or at least a financially rewarding blind-eye from those who should be stopping them. The BIB and the local authority and politicians are all tarnished by this scandal, but then it is a Democrat area, so utter corruption is only to be expected, and it thrived under the Abhisit puppet regime's total lack of action.

Surprised that all those who have posted on TV over the last few years decrying the utter disgrace of Patong, nobody bothered to ask why the Government of the day was doing nothing about it. Did they all know that it was largely due to Abhisit's total incompetence that the scams grew out of control?

You talk about the last few years and Abhisit in the same breath. Something of a contradiction. Or are you in fact just referring to the Abhisit years? In which case, why the problems of the last months?

The issue needs nothing more [a huge undertaking in Thailand] than the police to do their job and enforce the law.

[surayu]

Foreign diplomats meet the thai minister of sport to talk about scams....i always thought that scams were so widespread over here, but i never considere it as a "sport" .....maybe that's what it is really

It's a good start that the matter is being addressed somehow anyway, i hope to see more of these sort of initiatives happen, possibly finding a solution for the basic human rights breaks that foreigners living here, either permanently or temporary have to sustain....

[Honolulu]

Mabey if they introduced a "Gold Star" system. Award a Gold Star, or similar "Excellence Award" to all the Phuket business's that currently have no record of poor business dealings. Inform tourists of the promotion at the airport, encouraging them to shop only at businesses that display the Award. Then shut down all the other business's that fail to qualify. Too many "complaints" and they lose their special status.

These types of problems have been successfully delt with in many tourist communities around the world in the past. It's not rocket science.

[americaninbangkok]

Mabey if they introduced a "Gold Star" system. Award a Gold Star, or similar "Excellence Award" to all the Phuket business's that currently have no record of poor business dealings. Inform tourists of the promotion at the airport, encouraging them to shop only at businesses that display the Award. Then shut down all the other business's that fail to qualify. Too many "complaints" and they lose their special status.

These types of problems have been successfully delt with in many tourist communities around the world in the past. It's not rocket science.

Please! if this were rocket science... and we left it up to the Tourism Minister to fix... earthlings wouldn't even know where the moon was, let alone ever have sent man to it!

[Macmundi]

Shoot them scammy bastards on sight. That'll learn the rest not ta walk sideways!

[masterbiker49]

Don't hold ur breath for change in LOS,It will NEVER NEVER NEVER happen,hundreds of years of this way of life is here to stay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Vote with ur feet & wallet,tell everyone u know to keep away & more WWW exposure of scamming & murder in LOS released to overseas media will help a little,but FACE is everything.

[pauljones]

Why is it the foreign diplomats have to take up this issue?

I would think that the Thais in the tourism industry should be concerned too but apparently not.

Why?

Do they have no respect for their guests?

Do they know it's hopeless and try to cover it up?

[KKK]

What a joke! Hellooooooo....it's not just Phuket, it's Bangkok, it's Chiang Mai...everywhere tourists go. How long have these rip-offs been happening...for years!!!! What a joke!!

You must live in Pattaya, conspicuously absent from your rant.

Pattaya should have been added to the list. In fact all of Thailand should be added to the list. That is not a rant it's just the plain simple truth. Tourist scams happen all over Thailand NOT just in one province.

[SteveH]

What about the every day swindles, like yesterday I went for a haircut, was written up (in Thai) 60 bht, but he charged me 80 bht. Is that the same as the Phuket scams etc. ?

[metisdead]

Off topic posts and replies have been removed.

[swillowbee]

... I got it, I got it!

... what ... if Thais ... became ... BUDDHISTS ?!

... (my point being, that Thai greed is more powerful than Thai Buddhism).

Edited February 23, 2012 by swillowbee

[F1fanatic]

Why is it the foreign diplomats have to take up this issue?

I would think that the Thais in the tourism industry should be concerned too but apparently not.

Why?

Do they have no respect for their guests?

Do they know it's hopeless and try to cover it up?

The "foreign diplomats" couldn't care less either - its just a pretense of 'doing their job'...

[surayu]

The "foreign diplomats" couldn't care less either - its just a pretense of 'doing their job'...

Given the number of public officials all over the world, just doing that, you have a point here, however, even if this was the case, it is still much better than covering it up and avoid others to be aware of it, the more people knows about these problems it means there would be more chances for these issues to be solved, with a big number of people involved, maybe someone it's going to find a solution by mistake...

[wolf5370]

Mabey if they introduced a "Gold Star" system. Award a Gold Star, or similar "Excellence Award" to all the Phuket business's that currently have no record of poor business dealings. Inform tourists of the promotion at the airport, encouraging them to shop only at businesses that display the Award. Then shut down all the other business's that fail to qualify. Too many "complaints" and they lose their special status.

These types of problems have been successfully delt with in many tourist communities around the world in the past. It's not rocket science.

They would just sell the stars through back handers and use the threat of removing them to aid their extorsion. Only way to do this realistically is external to the country. That is, as someone said above, countries to put out strong warnings against visitin Phuket (etc) due to the potential danger to visitors. Also, cruise ships and military ships should stop coming for R'n'R and move location to other places (Thai or elsewhere). It is only pressure from outside that directly hits the fat boy's pockets that will cause them to squash the little guys - i.e. here the big fish need a push to eat the little fish! As Burma opens up and countries like Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam (as well as old favourites like Philipines) open up and push for tourism, the pressure will be greater on the government to do something.

Meeting the foreign diplomats might actually be a clever move to get foreign participation in prressuring the country from outside - we saw how they squirmed with worries of terrorism - lot easier to forget past incidents than ongoing endemic corruption and graft aimed at tourists and visitors.