New mindset required to end tour guides problem

[burgdawg]

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Edited July 19, 2015 by burgdawg

[burgdawg]

oops...post button went nuts!

Edited July 19, 2015 by burgdawg

[burgdawg]

So working along side a Thai tour guide, as a counselor, would be basically be the same beef Thai assistant teachers, holding a bachelor's degree, have with foreign teachers who have a only a rudimentary education with a teaching certificate. And of course the counselor earns less.

If they spoke perfect English, they would earn more!

WHOA! Correction is in order....."..if they spoke perfect English they would SCAM more!"

There. Fixed it for ya!

Need another? When was the last time most Tai women had less that 17 birthdays per annum?

Yes, the ongoing "Birthday Scam," elevated to an Art Form in Thailand. If you do not take the place seriously, it is all one big carny ride. Thailand is a Nation of Children.

Sooner or later, you get tired---or broke---digging into your pockets 24/7.

[Mickeem]

scamming tourists is a thai only allowed business category

Luckily! Imagine all the white trash were also allowed to scam their fellowmen...

Is that Chinese white trash

Korean maybe japanese white trash

or caucasian possibly eurasian white trash please elaborate

[Ulic]

The real issue for the Thai guides is not the jobs per say and the salary it pays but the 20%

commission from gem shops, restaurants and tourist attractions. That is what they are really

fighting for.

[SantiSuk]

I've said it before, but I'll say it again. Once ASEAN fully kicks in, Thailand is going to be like a deer in the headlights, and won't even hear the "thump" when the ASEAN truck runs over them.

Nah!

You're confusing Thai people with a nation of people who follow rules and obey laws. And to be more serious/analytical, there is a significant entrepreneurial sector in Thailand that is much more resourceful and well-funded than barstool falang give credit.

Edited July 20, 2015 by SantiSuk

[JohnnyJazz]

Stop blaming the local. You get what you pay for. Tour are organized by professional. They can request guides with real knowledge of the country. They can request no shopping. Alternatively some high end tour agencies hire university teachers moonlighting as tour guide to accompany their guests and the local guide is just here to handle the luggage transfert and hotels booking. But it is more expensive. The tourists are first and foremost ripped off by the people back home who chose the cheapest option for their customers. At the end it's up to you, different travel agencies cater to different kind of tourists. Caveat emptor.

Edited July 20, 2015 by JohnnyJazz

[stickylies]

scamming tourists is a thai only allowed business category

Luckily! Imagine all the white trash were also allowed to scam their fellowmen...

Is that Chinese white trash

Korean maybe japanese white trash

or caucasian possibly eurasian white trash please elaborate

I meant albino africans. Of course. Sorry for not being clear...

[skildpadden]

It would also require Thai guides to have a better understanding of our neighbouring countries, languages and ways of doing businesses. Ever wondered why so many Burmese, Cambodian and Vietnamese working in Thailand speak excellent Thai?

But that would mean that students are taught that there is a world outside of Thailand? Of course the foreign workers speak Thai, it is the only language worth speaking, no need to bother with English, Chinese or other exotic languages.

This article really covers some well known truth - if it is in a Thai newspaper, is it still considered Thai bashing?

[AlQaholic]

Why is there even such a dinosaur Phenomena as "tours" in this age of immediate access to information?? You go to a site, you look it up on Internet and voila there you have more information about the place than any tour guide could ever give, particularly if the guide is Thai.

If I would choose to go on a vacations somewhere and was offered a tour package that was cheaper than anything else I could find, I would probably take the package, but I would certainly never sink to the level of actually taking part in those "tours" and other dumb tour activities.

[stickylies]

Why is there even such a dinosaur Phenomena as "tours" in this age of immediate access to information?? You go to a site, you look it up on Internet and voila there you have more information about the place than any tour guide could ever give, particularly if the guide is Thai.

If I would choose to go on a vacations somewhere and was offered a tour package that was cheaper than anything else I could find, I would probably take the package, but I would certainly never sink to the level of actually taking part in those "tours" and other dumb tour activities.

It's what Thais like: tours, organised, some clown doing "work" for them, who they can then "tip" so they can feel important for 5 minutes while receiving basic info (file under sanouk) they couldn't be bothered to look up themselves, etc. Thais like to pay for that. Ever met a Thai who went abroad and was NOT overcharged by his fellow Thai tour agent ? A ticket that costs me 500 euro will cost them 45.000THB, nuff said. I use skyscanner, they use the good old reliable, smiling authority known as the "agent". Oh, and of course I'm also khī̂ h̄enīyw for only paying 500 euro, I kid u not. Genius mindset!

[biggles45]

"when AEC begins, we can expect this same attitude from Thais in every industry other than unskilled labor positions."

Not going to happen, some time ago the Thai government announced that employment for other ASEAN members under the AEC would be restricted to 8 professional categories and they must also qualify under Thai require,emts.

bet the testing is done in Thai !!

[tomacht8]

Good article. Wonder just why the outcry comes from the Pattaya tour guides?

...Over 100 Thai guides who work in Pattaya.....
Those are quite a lot for the small former fishing village.

.....In other words, foreign visitors travelling in groups and in need of a guide must hire Thai nationals to show them around....
To show what?
Areas of cultural sensitivity in Pattaya?
Walking Street?, Beach Road? Soi 6?

[stickylies]

"when AEC begins, we can expect this same attitude from Thais in every industry other than unskilled labor positions."

Not going to happen, some time ago the Thai government announced that employment for other ASEAN members under the AEC would be restricted to 8 professional categories and they must also qualify under Thai require,emts.

bet the testing is done in Thai !!

Lao, Bpama, Khmer brothel girls catering to Thai .... 7 professions left

[connda]

Fine sentiments but highly unlikely, since guides from other AEC countries may end up telling the truth about some cultural sites and past events rather than perpetuate the myths found in many Thai history books.

No kidding. Once ASEAN comes online, farang tour guides are the least of their problems. What then...a turf war after making a multi-nation trade agreement?

Then it's...he who offers the best service wins. Well, I guess Thai tour guides can take up machetes and start hacking their competition to death. But given this is ASEAN, my guess is that their out-of-country but legal competition can handle a machete just as well as any Thai, maybe better. It seemed Burma kept kicking the heck out of Thais historically. Win a few, lose a few.

He who offers the best Customer Services gets the customers.

Edited July 20, 2015 by connda

[connda]

To get around this problem, there have been suggestions that foreign tour guides be permitted to work legally as "Tour Coordinators", alongside Thai tour guides.

I already know what this means: the farrang guy is doing the job while the Thai guide sleeps in the bus until they stop at his contracted crap shop where he forks in by head count of potential customers.

The longstanding argument is that foreign guides might not know about Thailand, especially areas of cultural sensitivity, compared to local tour guides.

If a Thai tour guide should explain "Thainess" and do'd and don'ts to a group of let's say Dutch tourists in competition with a Dutch guide, I guess it's no secret who's the one to get a good tip from the group members...

To get around this problem, there have been suggestions that foreign tour guides be permitted to work legally as "Tour Coordinators", alongside Thai tour guides.

/sarcasm on

I've got a suggestion for the MoE. Have Native English Speaking Coordinators along side Thai teachers who speak rudimentary, grammatically incorrect, and mispronounced English. Pay the Native English Speaking Coordinators a (barely) living salary, like 10K THB per month, and shower accolades on the Khru Thai. I'm sure the body-pierced, tattooed, travelers sans degree of any sort would jump at the opportunity.

/sarcasm off

[Yunla]

I agree with earlier posters about ASEAN and how this might affect the already changing nature of tours here. More and more people are buying enclosed holidays where they are shuttled everywhere on a coach owned by their home-nation holiday company, and their entire timetable is mapped out for them by this company for every detail between airport arrival and departure. This is different to a lot of Western tourists who prefer pick-ups by local tour-groups, and planning perhaps only a few days ahead. These casual pick-up tour groups are very different to the full-time organised coach-holiday groups. I'm not an expert in this field at all, but I listen to my Western tourist friends, and also read the news a lot, and this seems to be a major shift in the nature of tours here.

Higher regulation of tour-guides can only be a good thing, to protect the security and well-being of visitors who are happy to pay for quality tours in this beautiful nation, but are often concerned about scams and other problems.