Thailand gov't bans zero-dollar tour

Thai Prime Minister made an order on Sunday to curb the zero-dollar tour and those who overprice tour related goods and services.   Government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said that the government has received a lot of complaints regarding the so-called zero-dollar tour or kickback tour, which has given a negative image to Thai tourism for a longtime, adding that reasonable tour package prices will be advised to countries like China, South Korea, Russia and others.   Once tour package fees are found lower than the identified prices, the travels shall be banned, said the spokesman.   Zero-dollar tour is a package tour that is priced below the operator's real cost, which is sold to tourists at cheaper rates, subsidized through deals with commission-paying third party firms -- jewellery galleries, bag shops, herbal and bird's nest shops.   As a result, this kind of revenue is not generated for Thai tourism. About 350 billion baht changed hands annually among operators involved in the unreasonably cheap prepaid tour services, Sansern unveiled.   He stressed that information of zero-dollar tour firms has been gathered by the government. The Prime Minister has ordered serious solutions to crack down on Thai proxy agents working with overseas tour companies selling zero-dollar packages. Source:Xinhua