Do travel agents not have to pay a bond before their licenses are issued?

Posted by John M on June 19, 2015 10:28

'This is happening quite a lot on Phuket,'- so why let the level of debt build up then if its so well known?

Posted by Mister Ree on June 19, 2015 10:58

Here is a comments about one of them: [Indian consumer affairs site]
AMAZING and nothing is done to close the company.

Posted by Whistle-Blower on June 19, 2015 11:02

There are rumours of dive shops owing considerable amounts to dive boat operators as well.

Why do these businesses allow such huge sums to accumulate?

Reminds me of the old picture in 2 parts - thin man "I sold on credit" - fat man "I sold for cash"

Posted by Logic on June 19, 2015 11:22

Too many foreigners in Phuket use Thai nominees to own and manage at 100% the Thai companies at the expense of properly registered Thai companies.

Ministry of Tourism & Sports should check all tour guides and companies including dive centers and all freelance Instructors who have been setting up their own Limited Partnerships to check if they have:
1/- A paid-up registered capital of no less than 2 million Baht (Bank account, dive equipment, office equipment, car, etc...in the company name).
2/- A ratio of one alien employee per four permanent Thai employees.
3/- The Thai partners owning the 51% of shareholders (70% in case the company own a tour boat) and Thai company director(s) are genuine Thai investors/partners or just Thai nominees as it is the case in most Thai companies owned by foreigners.
4/- Those companies with websites, FaceBook pages or owning a tour boat, will need in extra to employ full-time a TAT licensed tour guide.

We hope that Ministry of Tourism & Sports will do the crackdown on all coastal provinces along the Andaman Sea; other-way, foreigners will move to other provinces to avoid to be arrested and that will not stop them to work bookings through their Facebook pages and websites.

Many companies operated by foreigners are selling tours, diving and yachting charters and use PayPal for payments to avoid paying taxes in Thailand by diverting the money overseas.

Many freelance diving Instructors are looking for customers and book dive tours through Facebook pages and websites but do not have a TAT license or may have a TAT license but in fact those dive companies do not have TAT registered tour guides working full time for the companies .

Many TAT registered guides sign the official TAT application forms to valid the TAT license for tour and dive companies for money only; but they are in fact true Thai nominees or sitting-guides for those tour businesses which is completely illegal.

Posted by Whistle-Blower on June 19, 2015 12:59

@Logic - If you knew, just a little bit about how the dive industry works and how they do business together, you won't be asking this questions. Obviously you don't know, but just assuming based on rumours.

Posted by Zenobiz on June 19, 2015 13:01

What is a Counter Tour ? Anti Tour perhaps ?

A typical Thai mistranslation.

Posted by Justin on June 19, 2015 13:19

Whistleblower

As soon as I saw the sentence "too many foreigners in Phuket use Thai nominees" I knew that you where AGAIN gonna produce a long winded tirade about your pet peeve, foreigners in the dive industry. You tried to talk about "tour guides" first but sure enough you soon started blabbering about dive shops AGAIN. This article have got nothing to do with foreigners illegaly setting up companies, indeed there were probably zero foreigners among the people that were asked to come to the mediation session. Get it? Stop hijacking the comments section with your broken record complaints about "nominees"

Posted by christian on June 19, 2015 13:58

It's called credit control. Business accounting 101, bad debt is a legitimate expense. Surprising to hear it's a matter for the Tourism and Sport Director.

Posted by gee on June 19, 2015 14:21

@ christian - Blabbing about corruption, touts, illegal guides, tuk-tuk, jet-ski, boat accidents, and so on... is done and repeated on daily basis since age on all social media about Phuket and that will not stop tomorrow.

About problems in the dive industry, you may not have noticed but ATUS has been assigned by the NCPO to supervise the diving activity in Thailand and to fix them before the next high season.
Foreign or Thai Instructors have not been invited to any meeting about it and this coming Sunday all dive and tour boat operators will have a meeting at Thaplamu with Similan Islands National Parks about new regulations at the Thai Navy base.

Here is written black on white in Thai and English:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Association-of-Thailand-Underwater-Sports-ATUS/268905056483238
Dear All ATUS Members
The National Reform Council had a meeting about marine tourism environment problem especially about tourist diving.
The National Reform Council assigned ATUS to be responsible for taking care, control and training all members in National Park area and all dive site in Thailand
Therefore, please be informed that if you don't have a training from ATUS, this will affect your license of using National Park area and all dive site in Thailand.
Thank you

Note that if my comment displease you, I suggest you to skip reading all my comments.

Posted by Whistle-Blower on June 19, 2015 14:51

Whistle-Blower, or is it Asterix or Charles, your replies are always predictable, why not protest directly to the authorities, continually whinging on here and other sites will achieve NOTHING. The law, yes the law, which allows nominees was in fact created by a former government, and it has NEVER been rescinded, so get over it.

Posted by Laurie Howells on June 19, 2015 15:27

@ Laurie Howells - Sorry you are wrong.

QUOTED - Using Thai nominee is illegal under the Foreign Business Act of 2542, and DSI will take part in investigating cases.

Anyone wishing to report cases should call the DSI hotline, 1202, or the Security Operations Division of the DSI at 02-142-2794.

Posted by Whistle-Blower on June 19, 2015 16:34

@ Zenobiz: Did I touch a raw nerve? I lived in Phuket 21 years & dived for many of those so you would be surprised how much I know.

Posted by Logic on June 19, 2015 17:27

Whistle-Blower, or Asterix, or Charles, perhaps you can highlight the section pertaining to "nominees" as I find NO reference... it seems section 15 is relevant. In fact, the word "nominee" isn't even mentioned. If it isn't in the "Act" then it is someone's whim, this does not make it "law."
Section 15. The foreigners may operate the business under List Two only if Thai nationals or juristic persons that are not foreigners under this Act hold the shares of not less than 40% of the capital of that foreign juristic persons. Unless there is a reasonable cause, the Minister with the approval of the Cabinet may reduce the proportion requirement but it shall not be less than 25 percent and the number of Thai directors shall not be less than two-fifths of the total number of directors.

Posted by Laurie Howells on June 19, 2015 17:58

And the tour counters probably make more profit than the boat companies

Posted by Michael on June 19, 2015 19:16

Zenobiz and Logic

Logic is completely right, I personally know a dive company owner that owes very large sums of money to boat operators. He accumulates the debt during the beginning of high season and just about manages to pay of the debt in February/march. But not all, there is always debt to be paid, it's a way for him to get access to the boats in fact. As long as he owes them money they don't dare to let him go out of business by refusing his customers. From what I understand, he is far from being alone in this particular situation.

Posted by christian on June 19, 2015 20:30

Whistle-Blower

I'm actually fascinated about your tenacity when it comes to forcing every article to end up being about your pet complaint. These days I half expect to see your ranting about nominees in the dive industry in almost any comment section, regardless of what the news article is about.
It's like "A flower exhibiton comes to Phuket" and then you go "well, flowers need water, now let me tell you about the breathtaking corruption in ANOTHER water-dependent industry bla bla blaaa"

Posted by christian on June 19, 2015 20:38

So how accountable are the boat tour providers for allowing a tour desk to send them streams of tours they have not paid for? If they do not have the ability to run a business then maybe they should be doing something else? It is great profits for the tour desks, 100% profit on boat tours is a deal. .

Posted by James Bond on June 19, 2015 21:03

@Logic - No you didn't touch anything, not even a raw nerve. Just because you have been diving for 21 years in Phuket doesn't make you know much about how business between dive centers are done here. Let me explain it for you.

Dive Center (DC) A book 1 diver at DC B's dive boat. At the end of the month, DC B sends DC A an invoice saying: You owe me X amount THB.

DC A, normally have between 1 - 2 weeks to clear the invoice, but sometimes, if both DC agrees, a bit longer. If DC A have a lot of customers and they send all of them to DC B's boat, the amount will be high. If they don't have a lot of customers the amount will be low.

If DC A can't pay at all, then they will be banned from the boat and DC B will be pissed. All in all, just normal business but hey! You heard some romors and maybe they are all true. Get some facts next time.

Posted by Zenobiz on June 19, 2015 21:03