Following the visit of Pol Maj Gen Surachet Hakpal to the Sanam Luang area of Bangkok investigating the issue of illegal guides he made the following observations.
The job of a guide is reserved for Thais but this is not always happening.
The media said that many are foreigners taking Thai jobs – but it is not as simple as that. One official was interviewed said that the reason foreigners had carved a niche in the business was that they had better language skills than Thais and better knowledge of the places and history than Thais.
They reported that there were about 83,000 guides working in Thailand but only about half were properly registered.
Surachet said in addressing the media that Thailand needs only about 50,000 guides.
He commented that moves were being made by the relevant ministry to ensure that standards of Thai guides improve in terms of language ability and knowledge of the places they were taking the tourists to.
(Source:-Channel 7 TV)