Thailand - Guideline on charges of tourist guide service approved

The board of Tourism Business and Guides has approved the guideline on minimum guide service charges for three types of tourists - outbound tourists, inbound tourists and domestic tourists, said Thaweesak Wanitcharoen, director general of Department of Tourism. 

 

Thaweesak said the rates were in line with the policy of Minister of Tourism and Sports, Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, to prevent tourists from being exploited in spending and service charges by tour businesses and guides.

“After the approval, the sub-committee will consider ways to improve the Tourism Business and Guide Act, B.E. 2551 (2008) in order to enforce it as a law ,” he said.

The approved minimum guide service charges for outbound tourists range from Bt1,600 to 9,000 per person (three days and two nights), exlcuding airline ticket price.

For inbound tourists, the charges are: a minimum of Bt800 per person per night (Asean), Bt1,000 (Asia), Bt1,500 for others. 

Domestic tourists will pay a service rate of Bt300 each for non-overnight stay, Bt600 per night for overnight stay. The charges include accommodation and transportation fees.

Source - TheNation

Thailand - Learning from the economic giant next door

Most Thai students tend to pursue studies abroad either in the United States or Europe, which are regarded as open societies and champions of freedom. But some Thai students are walking a different path.

They are choosing China as their educational destination to learn how this developing country has transformed itself in four decades from a poor country to an economic powerhouse and the world’s second-largest economy.

[Related story: Why so many foreign students are flocking to China]

“I’m impressed by how fast China is growing. I want to learn how to do business with Chinese people,” said Patcharamai Sawanaporn, 25, a postgraduate student at the Faculty of WTO, Law and Economics at the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) in Beijing.

When China kicked-off its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013, the UIBE launched a BRI scholarship programme last year. Patcharamai is one of 17 international scholarship students benefiting from the BRI scholarships sponsored by the Chinese government.

Patcharamai likes the Chinese language because she is familiar with it. Her family traces its roots to China hence she studied the Chinese language since her childhood. 

After graduating in international relations on China’s foreign policy from the Faculty of Political Science at Chulalongkorn University, she worked for two years before applying for the BRI scholarship last year.

Unlike Patcharamai, Nalin Phongpuksa, 26, a postgraduate MBA student, Chinese programme, at the UIBE, was forced to learn Chinese. But it has all been worth it for she has now fallen in love with the country and its language. 

Nalin said she was not interested in studying the Chinese language but 10 years ago, her mother – a Thai diplomat – forced her daughter to learn the language before her diplomatic posting for four years, as she wanted Nalin to prepare for life in Beijing. Nalin did her high school in China’s capital and later returned to Thailand with her mother.
.
FOR THE BEST GLOBAL HOTEL & FLIGHT BOOKINGS
.
 After she graduated from Mahamakut Buddhist University and worked for two years in the field of logistics she came back to Beijing.

“China is growing rapidly as an economy and I think I could learn more from them. So last year I applied for a scholarship to come back to study here,” she said.

Both students found life in China was not very difficult, although in the beginning the language barrier was a problem as well as restrictions on accessing social media. But the Thai students have finally settled down and are enjoying the conveniences the country allows foreign students. 

They have no problem with their host country’s restricted access to certain websites and social media such as Facebook and Twitter. They have managed to find a way to bypass the restrictions and access online information and social media.

They rely on a VPN or Virtual Private Network, a secure tunnel between two or more devices, which enables them to keep in touch with the world outside China, as well as their families and friends in Thailand.

 READ CONTINUE

PS.
Another point is, almost the whole Thai youth is addicted on playing games, and prefer to sit in the to many Internet-cafes.
Almost the can not write there own name in a common language. 
''SHAME''
Who want employ these addicted youth