How to Spot Legitimate Tour Operators in Thailand!

Legitimate tour operators in Thailand. Especially if you're new to Thailand, it can be pretty overwhelming to get your head around the huge range of tours and activities on offer while preparing for your trip. It can be even harder to tell the legitimate providers apart from the shady ones among the huge number of operators out there. The latter run the risk of holding no licence at all from the Thai Tourism Authority, meaning they run tours with no legal basis and no insurance cover whatsoever – not to mention a lack of proper training. In this article we want to help you make the right choice. We'll also look into a widespread misunderstanding: are foreigners even allowed to work as tour operators in Thailand at all?     Legitimate tour operators never offer their services through private messages on social media, such as Facebook groups, Twitter, Instagram and so on. Why? Because they simply don't need to – they invest their resources in far more effective forms of marketing instead: good search engine optimisation (SEO), advertising, partnerships within the travel industry, and much more. For shady operators, on the other hand, the private message is the only promising form of self-promotion available, since they have neither a properly run travel agency nor a website. Nor would a legitimate operator randomly approach you in person, for example while sitting in a restaurant or out on the street, to tell you about their offers. Our tip: consistently ignore private messages online as well as personal approaches, wherever they happen!       First of all, it should be mentioned that every operator, in addition to the required documents, must always have a travel agency or a physical company location that can be visited (this is an absolute must when applying for a legally registered company!). In addition, every operator must hold a so-called "TAT licence (click here!)", issued by the Tourism Authority of Thailand, which, once granted, allows the operator to broker paid tourist services. Anyone without a TAT licence is therefore operating entirely illegally! Our tip: On the following page, officially provided by the "Department of Tourism Thailand", anyone interested has a convenient way to quickly check the legitimacy of a company using its TAT licence number or the name of the travel agency: CLICK HERE! Shady operators logically have no valid TAT licence number, so they can be caught red-handed instantly. Alternatively, every travel agency must be able to show you its TAT licence on request! (Required by law at the company premises!)

"Any business in the tourism industry that deals with consumers must get a TAT licence. This has been the law since 1989. [...] Visit https://www.tat.or.th or call us at Tel: 076-224529." Montri Manator, Legal Consultant, Tourism Business and Guide Registration Office, Phuket Branch.

    It's also important to make sure that every tour guide employed by an operator holds a valid "Tour Guide Licence (click here!)" without exception! In Thailand, the work of a tour guide may, on the one hand, generally only be carried out by Thai nationals, and on the other, only by those who hold the aforementioned tour guide licence. There are various levels of tour guide training in Thailand, which, once successfully completed (comparable to vocational training in many other countries), licenses someone to work legally. Two licences matter here: the Tour Guide and the Tour Leader, which differ mainly in where they may be used. A Tour Leader, for example, may work anywhere in Thailand, while a Tour Guide may only work in their own specific area of competence, and nowhere else. Every tour guide must carry their respective licence, during tours and activities, VISIBLY ON THEIR BODY! Furthermore, even if a tour guide holds a valid Tour Guide Licence, they are not permitted to lead or run tours and activities independently without the assignment (the so-called "job order") of a TAT-licensed tour operator! (again, there's no insurance cover in that case, since this is only guaranteed through the operator!)

"Thai authorities are cracking down harder on illegal tour operators!" SOURCE!

Our tip: On the same page, officially provided by the "Department of Tourism Thailand", anyone can conveniently check the validity of any tour guide's licence number in Thailand: CLICK HERE! Shady operators logically have no valid Tour Guide Licence number, so they can be caught red-handed instantly (especially those who try to contact you via private messages to offer tourist services!). Every tour guide must be able to show you their Tour Guide Licence on request, since, as mentioned, they must carry it with them at all times during tours! Always ignore private tour guides who don't offer their services on behalf of a TAT-licensed travel agency!     The answer is: No! However, a clear distinction has to be made between leading tours, operating tours, and brokering tours (see point 34/39 of the list of activities prohibited to all foreigners: the official Thai government page is unambiguous here! The translation reads: #34. Tour guide work or public guiding). While Thai law expressly forbids foreigners from leading (guiding a tour as a tour leader or guide) or operating (being responsible for the practical running of a tour as an operator), it clearly allows brokering tours in the form of employment or a work permit at a travel agency. The travel agency itself may only be "owned" by a Thai national. This point is almost moot anyway, since any Thai company must always be majority-owned by a Thai citizen. In other words, even if a foreigner wanted to, they simply couldn't own a travel agency in Thailand, since any attempt or application to set up their own travel agency would obviously never be approved by the Thai authorities. As an employee of a travel agency that was necessarily founded by a Thai national, however, a foreigner may, in full compliance with Thai law, own up to a maximum of 49% of the company's shares. To put it simply: a foreigner may offer tourist services in Thailand, provided they hold a valid work permit (Work Permit, click here!) from a travel agency! It's also worth mentioning that foreigners may additionally work as translators on tours. In this role, however, they are only permitted to pass on or translate the information from the Thai tour guide for the tourists, without independently leading the tour in any way! As already mentioned, only Thais may lead or operate tours! Forbidden for foreigners!  

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  Our tip: Any claim that foreigners aren't allowed to work for a travel agency is completely and brazenly false! Full stop. Not without reason – and entirely deliberately! – the Thai Tourism Authority and the Thai Ministry of Labour approve work permits every day for countless foreigners, including a detailed job description, granting them full legal status as employees of a Thai travel agency. Below is the English translation of the job description stated in the "Work Permit example", issued by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), as a valid work permit for a foreigner at a travel agency: ประเภทกิจการ Type of business ปริการนำเที่ยว Tour guiding ลักษณะงาน Job description - ควบคุม ดูแลบริหารงานให้เป็นไปตามวัตถุประสงค์ของบริษ้ท ติดต่อประสานงานลูกค้า - Overseeing work in line with the company's objectives. Liaising with and coordinating customers (ห้ามหทำงานตามพระราชกฤษฎีกากำหนคงานในอาชิพ และวิชาชีพที่ห้ามคนต่างด้าวห้า พ.ศ. 2522) (Prohibition of work in accordance with the royal decree defining occupations and professions forbidden to foreigners – 1979) ที่อยู่อาศัยในประเทศไทย Address in Thailand... Here, the TAT, with explicit reference to the professions forbidden to foreigners in Thailand!, officially and openly issues a work permit for a foreigner who is legally allowed to work as a tour operator!     Put simply: legitimate travel agencies always pass on the tour operator's selling price without adding anything on top. That's because Thai tour operators generally offer every agent or travel agency a reduced price (a commission for the travel agency is already built in), but never sell it cheaper themselves! In other words, a legitimate travel agency always sticks to the tour operator's selling price instead of increasing it! (Note: tour operators generally don't sell their tours on-site, but exclusively through brokerage agreements with travel agencies, to whom they offer a commission)       In summary: it's really quite easy to separate the amateurs from the professionals, and thereby avoid the risk of being put in unnecessary danger during your well-earned holiday. Because one thing is certain – none of the illegally operating providers can produce insurance in an emergency, and they'll be the first to instantly vanish into thin air the moment the authorities or police show up, not caring one bit about what happens to you. We recommend you follow our tips, which are, once again:   1. Ignore offers received via private message! 2. Always check an operator's TAT licence! LINK! 3. Check a tour guide's Tour Guide Licence! LINK! (Combined with point 2!) 4. Always compare prices from different operators in advance!

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