ATTA ready to fight over tourism law

BANGKOK : Association of Thai Travel Agents has warned its members to study carefully the draft of the new Tourism Standard Act, while there is still time to lobby for revisions.
ATTA secretary, Charoen Wangananont, told members at a mobile meeting in Buri Ram on Sunday that the Ministry of Tourism and Sports will launch a new Tourism Standard Act soon.
The draft was discussed between the ministry and the Tourism Council of Thailand and has passed six public hearings.
However, ATTA claims there are too many duplications with another tour company and guide act, penalties and enforcement are too severe and officials managing the act have too much power.
“The association just knows about the draft recently and we cannot accept that the authority can investigate and arrest tour operators without a court writ… the penalty that a tour operator could be fined THB100,000 to THB500,000 and face imprisonment of up to three years for offence is too severe.”
He added: “Most tour operators are SMEs and they are already controlled by Act of Tourism and Guide Registration 2008.”
The secretary said the move was not timely.
“Launching the new act now is not suitable…it will aggravate the tourism situation that has been hit by political instability.”
He then called on association members to study the new standard draft and voice their opinions at a final meeting 22 August.
“This is a draft process, so we need our members to study and show vision to present our side and perspective at the last stage of discussions.”
The association vice president, Anek Srishevachart, also opposed to the launch of new tourism standard act claiming it overlapped the Act of Tourism and Guide Registration.
The association asked its legal team to oppose the act before the last of public hearing due later this month.
The Tourism Council of Thailand is the official voice of tourism’s private sector that was set up to mediate with the government on policy and present the view of its members. But it is not clear if it reflected ATTA’s views on the act during discussions with the ministry.
ATTA is the largest trade association in tourism in the country and as such it should have been involved in discussions on various aspects of the act from the start. Its board said they had only recently been told about the act and briefed on its proposed content.
The Act consists of nine sections with 79 articles (only Thai version) visit
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Ministry of Tourism and Sports’ Department of Tourism assigned Kasetsart University as a consultant to conduct a study and develop legal standards for the tourism sector in preparing for the start of the ASEAN Economic Community 2015.
The university based its conclusions and recommendations on tourism standard laws and rules in Thailand, ASEAN and ASEAN+6 (China, South Korea, Japan, India, Australia and New Zealand).

Sourced: ttrweekly