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Thailand standardizes travel market
23/6/2003 16:57


Thailand's standardization of minimum package tour rates was enthusiastically hailed among Shanghai's overseas travel agencies, the Shanghai Evening Post reported today.

According to the standard, every Chinese tourist must pay at least US$18 a day to the Thailand travel agencies, with the six-day cost reaching at least 3,200 yuan.

Several senior officials of Thailand went to Beijing several days ago to ink agreements with nine Chinese travel agencies, determining that the package tour to Thailand should take no more than five days, travel agencies can take tourists to only one store for no more than three hours and travelers can return purchases if quality problems are found within a month.

"This is fantastic, as the tough price wars in the Thailand tourism market over the past several years have lowered our credit standing," said a spokesperson with a major travel agency.

Travel agencies and shopping malls in Thailand will be punished if caught breaking the rules.

Local travel agencies are planning new travel itineraries to Thailand, but some industry analysts are concerned about overall implementation of the rules, stressing that supervision must be strengthened on the Thailand tourism market.




 Wendy Zhang/ Shanghai Daily news