16 Tourists Abandoned By Tour Guides In Thailand After Allegedly Protesting The Itinerary
The Chinese tourists were allegedly abandoned in an elephant village in Pattaya.
By Jasmine Chea — 30 Mar 2023, 12:51 PM
A trip to Thailand for 16 Chinese tourists turned into a nightmare when they were abandoned by their tour guides in Pattaya
According to The Thaiger, the Pattaya Tourist Police received a complaint from one of the Chinese tourists last Wednesday, 22 March, claiming that their tour group was stranded in the Bang Lamung district.
A group of officers were immediately dispatched to the Chiang Mai Elephant Village to investigate the matter.
When the officers arrived at the location, the tourists told the police that they would like to return to their hotel. They were later escorted back.
Once the tourists returned to their hotel, authorities called the travel agency that was responsible for the stranded group to get an explanation from them
When contacted, a representative of the company, identified as Pannipa, said that the group had purchased a tour package from the agency and arrived in Thailand on 20 March, where they stayed for two days.
However, on Wednesday, while the group were on their way to Pattaya, one of the tourists allegedly began to complain that the programme was boring and requested they visit another location.
The tourists were then told that any unscheduled visitations outside of the planned itinerary was subject to additional charges, which the tourists allegedly refused to pay.
In spite of the explanation, the tourists still do not have a clue as to why they were abandoned like that.
"I don't know why the tour guides left us. The two [guides] disappeared and did not inform us of anything. I did not see [their] tour guide licence card. They told us that they are Thai people. They communicated in Chinese very well. Their names are Zhou Zhihao and Jia Jia. I also don't know where my hotel is," one of the affected tourists said to reporters.
Pattaya tourist police officer Pitchaya Chiaopleung told the media that relevant authorities will be conducting further investigations
Authorities have also said that the travel agency has negatively impacted the image of Thai tourism and the company has been ordered to release an official statement.
This is to address the growing allegations that Thai tour agencies are expensive and dangerous, preying on Chinese tourists with inflated travel costs or luring them into illegal activities.
"More measures to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future are in the works," Pitchaya told the media.
In January, 40 Malaysians were scammed out of RM35,000 when they bought a non-existent tour package to Krabi from a deceptive travel agency:
