PTY BU SUP September18
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<strong>BU</strong>SINESS <strong>SUP</strong>PLEMENT<br />
PROPOSAL TO MAKE<br />
TRAVEL INSURANCE<br />
MANDATORY FOR<br />
ALL TOURISTS<br />
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At a seminar run by a National<br />
Legislative Assembly committee<br />
on religion, culture and tourism,<br />
it was strongly suggested that all<br />
tourists to Thailand should have<br />
adequate travel insurance to cover<br />
expenses arising from accidents,<br />
common hazards and other<br />
possible instances where a claim<br />
may be required. Examples may<br />
be motorcycle and scooter hire<br />
and car hire but should be extended<br />
to more risky pursuits such as<br />
scuba diving, jet skiing, boating,<br />
trekking, and mountain climbing.<br />
The plan that is being floated<br />
is to make travel insurance mandatory<br />
for all visitors to the Kingdom<br />
in order to reduce the load on<br />
the country’s tourist compensation<br />
fund which has paid out a great<br />
deal of money recently due to<br />
boating tragedies in Phuket. The<br />
fund is in danger of being completely<br />
depleted.<br />
Tourism and Sports Minister<br />
Weerasak Kowsurat backed the<br />
proposal that would see all visitors<br />
to Thailand require travel insurance<br />
as a condition of entry.<br />
This would help to appease<br />
Chinese tourists who have been<br />
hesitant to come to the country<br />
after hearing news of the unfortunate<br />
boating accident involving<br />
the Phoenix tourist boat which<br />
sank in Phuket in July, causing<br />
47 deaths. Following the tragedy<br />
many tourists cancelled their travel<br />
plans to Phuket.<br />
The president of the Association<br />
of Thai Travel Agents, Vichit<br />
Prakobkosol, was quoted as saying,<br />
“Chinese tourists have cancelled<br />
bookings made for July, August<br />
and September,”adding, “The<br />
cancellations have damaged the<br />
tourism business on the Andaman<br />
coast.”<br />
The governments own tourist<br />
compensation fund had already<br />
paid out around 60 million baht in<br />
relation to the Phoenix accident<br />
and was in danger of going broke.<br />
These payments were made on<br />
top of insurance claims.<br />
Mr. Kowsurat was quoted as<br />
saying, “Safety cannot be comprised,”<br />
adding that any tour company<br />
that does not follow safety<br />
procedures would face the consequences.<br />
Many Western tourists who<br />
come to Thailand already have<br />
travel insurance, however there<br />
are policies that have limited payouts<br />
or high excesses, so it may<br />
be just a case of ensuring that<br />
coverage is adequate.<br />
Another plan floated was to<br />
make available GPS trackers for<br />
Chineseand other tourists so that<br />
they could not get lost. This would<br />
help to account for people in an<br />
accident as well as help to find<br />
those who are trekking in more remote<br />
parts.<br />
35 million tourists visited Thailand<br />
last year of which Chinese<br />
tourists made up nearly a third<br />
of these. Chinese tourists spent<br />
500 billion baht, close to a quarter<br />
of the total tourist revenues<br />
that came in at around 1.8 trillion<br />
baht. Out of the 10 million Chinese<br />
tourists visiting the Kingdom, approximately<br />
a third of them visited<br />
Phuket spending 150 billion baht<br />
in the province.<br />
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