More help on way for tourists

More help for tourists is on the way as police prepare to roll out measures, including the creation of "safety zones", to mark the advent of the Asean Economic Community in 2015.

Pol Gen Wuthi Liptapallop, adviser to the Royal Thai Police, has been assigned to oversee the initiative. He says police will play a critical role in building up foreign tourists' confidence in Thailand.

Increased confidence will mean more travellers will come to Thailand, he said, which will help the government reach its target of boosting tourist revenue to 2 trillion baht.

After studying crime-prone locations nationwide with the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, police created a list of "safety zone" areas under the jurisdictions of 353 police stations in 56 provinces.

Police will scrupulously protect tourists and work on wiping out crimes in these safety zones, said Pol Gen Wuthi.

In Bangkok, safety zones will include Khao San Road, Royal City Avenue, Ratchadaphisek Road and Patpong Road.

In other provinces, tourist hotspots Samui, Pattaya and Hat Yai are expected to be named safety zones.

Pol Gen Wuthi said high-level police, such as deputy commissioners of the Central Investigation Bureau, will be directly involved in the project. At the provincial level, the deputy commanders of each provincial force will be involved.

"If tourists are victims of crime in the declared safety zones, the responsible police officers will be held accountable," Pol Gen Wuthi said. "If the police officers cannot deal with the situation, no matter where they are, they must leave."

He said foreign tourists currently face four types of problems in Thailand _ crimes, deception, disasters and degraded tourist attractions.

The number of checkpoints in safety zones will be increased, he said. Residents will be asked to share their own solutions to their crime problems, he added.

All cases affecting tourists will be swiftly reported to the Royal Thai Police, he said, adding the statistics on such cases must be forwarded to police headquarters on the 5th of every month.

"We are now campaigning to promote the issue to raise awareness and understanding of the project among police, tourists, hotel operators and tour firms," he said.

Eco-tourism operators will be tapped first, as these types of activities were taking hold in the North, Pol Gen Wuthi said.

He added tour operators must carefully examine forest tracks where they are planning to escort tourists. Hotel operators will be urged to strictly check travellers' passports, he said.

Pol Gen Wuthi said a police notification centre will be established at Khao Pratumnak in Pattaya to assist tourists. Tour operators must notify the centre about selected routes for tours.

Jiravit Chayavoraprapa, an executive of Buddy Group, which operates restaurants and hotels in several tourist hotspots including Khao San Road, Chiang Mai and Koh Samui, applauded the campaign. He said criminal cases, even relatively minor ones, can diminish tourist confidence if they take place frequently. "On Khao San Road, foreign tourists often face problems [including] transvestite gangs who drug tourists and steal their valuables," he said.

Share your thoughts

Discussion 1 : 25/10/2012 at 11:49 AM
"If the police officers cannot deal with the situation, no matter where they are, they must leave." Leave to where? an "inactive" post? Why not discipline and fire them. Why can't they deal with the situation? because they are in on the jet ski scam too?
Discussion 2 : 24/10/2012 at 06:17 PM
Hahahahaha what a joke. Recently I was at the main Pattaya Police Station on beach road. There were two colourful brochures on a counter for the tourists, one called Safe Zone, unfortunately that were the only two English words, the WHOLE brochure (A4 size) was in Thai. And that besides the very rude elderly mustached policeman behind window 1 who never heard of courtesy when spoken to I guess. The Police Chief there needs to come downstairs sometimes to check for himself I humbly suggest.
Discussion 3 : 24/10/2012 at 05:41 PM
Is soi nana a safety zone???my answer is yes...those black prostitutes are all tourist and they are safe to do business...amazing Thailand...
Discussion 4 : 24/10/2012 at 02:26 PM
If you did a survey and asked tourists in Thailand do you feel threatened they would say no.All our friends who visit are perfectly happy going into Bangkok on there own.My only complaint is the taxis and they need taking to task. What message dose this give to would be tourists,that Thailand must have a problem.What a load of nonsense ill thought up by someone trying to justify his job and not thinking of the big picture.
Discussion 5 : 24/10/2012 at 01:20 PM
"Hotel operators will be urged to strictly check travellers' passports, he said." And this will help tourists?? How so? Is it some sort of free immigration service being offered by hotels? The cynic in me thinks this is more to do with Thailand's mistrust of foreigners than safety of foreigners.
Discussion 6 : 24/10/2012 at 12:44 PM
Never really had a problem in Thailand with traditional types of crime. Double pricing system doesn't worry me, as long as prices are clear. Biggest problem in my opinion is scams. At the end of the day Westerners can afford it, however they leave feeling ripped off, and don't want to return. My parents visited Bangkok and thought it was a bit of a dump after a) being told the palace is closed because it's a public holiday, b) getting taken to gem shop after gem shop by Tuk Tuks, c) paying an exorbitant price for seafood that didn't have the price listed on the menu, all in one day. It's a shame, as I know how good BKK can be.
Discussion 7 : 24/10/2012 at 12:05 PM
Obviously who ever thought this plan up knows nothing about marketing to tourists. To the tourist unfamiliar with Thailand, seeing that some areas are "tourist safety zones" indicates that the rest of the country is unsafe for tourists. And they will travel elsewhere. Rather than wasting time (and money) on useless ideas, spend time being policemen and arrest the scam artists, get rid of the jet ski scams, the tuk tuk mafia, the gem store and tailor shop touts, etc. And I don't mean the little guy on the street, I mean the ones who pay him his meager salary and reap the profits for themselves.
Discussion 8 : 24/10/2012 at 12:02 PM
the Tourist Police sit in their van on the Silom corner of Patpong every night and totally ignore the taxi mafia ripping off tourists and if pressed advise the tourists to walk up to Rama 4 to get a taxi. The local police set up road blocks at Soi 6 turning away vacant taxis to "fix" the taxi rip-off problem declaring Patpong a "safety zone" and having police "play a critical role" will change what exactly?
Discussion 9 : 24/10/2012 at 11:11 AM
These people are always good in having ideas but totally lack enforcement. It’s like making a business plan for a business which doesn’t work. Amazing!
Discussion 10 : 24/10/2012 at 10:16 AM
May I suggest the Police name and shame all the 'touts' who frequent the tourist areas and banned them from these so called safety areas with future breaches facing arrest. It's a combination of these criminals and the inaction by the Police that is the problem. Take a look at the way the French Police their tourist areas and protect ALL decent people going about their business. AS long as the incompetent Police in Thailand receive $$$ from these 'touts' the above story is nothing but a day dream!
Discussion 11 : 24/10/2012 at 09:48 AM
Sorry to burst their bubble, but physical violence and theft don't happen very often compared to the ongoing tourist scams everyone is aware of, TAT and police alike. Put a stop to the tuktuk scam, gem scam, dual pricing scams, seafood restaurant scams, jet ski scams, motorbike rental scams, travel agency scams and tourist will come back to Thailand and tell everyone how nice it is. Now many tourists go home only to tell horror stories and put friends and family off from visiting.
Discussion 12 : 24/10/2012 at 09:44 AM
Do away with double pricing for foreigners should be at the top of the list to increase tourism
Discussion 13 : 24/10/2012 at 09:40 AM
Here is the only reason for the additional safty for falang! Increased confidence will mean more travellers will come to Thailand, he said, which will help the government reach its target of boosting tourist revenue to 2 trillion baht. Its alll about the money, money, money! Also how did Sukumvit not get on to that list?
Discussion 14 : 24/10/2012 at 09:00 AM
If you want to make Thailand better for foreigners, why not start with the fees Thailand charges foreigners to enter national parks. For that matter, why not start with the farrang price differeces across the country.
Discussion 15 : 24/10/2012 at 08:14 AM
What is this Africa? We don't need tourist 'safety zones' if the police just did their work, my god the police are useless.
Discussion 16 : 24/10/2012 at 08:06 AM
Ladyboys in Patong, Phuket mug and rob you in broad daylight. Phuket one and only time for me. Never again.
Discussion 17 : 24/10/2012 at 08:02 AM
A plethora of problems associated to the police and the disturbing fact is that its not fiction. A perplexing problem of how do you police the police? Tourist police in uniforms that remind people of the jackboots of Nazi Germany. So military - so frightening. Dis 11 Of course it's your fault, your a farang! My bike was stolen, it was my fault because I parked it in the street. That's what the good constable told me. National Parks are destroyed by the local population not tourists. Western tourists have "care for the environment" drilled into them, Thais have "throw it away and who cares" drilled into them.
Discussion 18 : 24/10/2012 at 07:31 AM
Don't worry, the few tourists that will remain in Thailand in future will be safe. Starting January 1st, the national park fee for foreigners will be 500 Baht! And of course they can't distinguish a vietnamese, chinese, philippino from a Thai, so the 500 will just be for farang, not foreigners, and some day sooner or later, these farang will go elswhere, as Thailand is not the only country with nice beaches and (mostly) friendly people.
Discussion 19 : 24/10/2012 at 07:27 AM
Some Thais I know would not call the police in an emergency and advised me not to do so. This shocked me at first. Now I think I have there point of view. It’s sad that people can not trust the police and are afraid of them. And by the way, are these safety zones going to be staffed with police that can speak fluent English? Trust me; it would be best to scrap this idea. It will do more harm than good.
Discussion 20 : 24/10/2012 at 07:07 AM
I feel that an invisible target has been painted on my car.I have been hit by 4 taxi's and one bus and each time I go to the policestation to report the accident they blame me even before we can explain that we have everything on video and pictures.How can the police protect tourists when the Police are some of the worst offenders ? So far I have only met 3-4 police that could speak any English so how are they going to make us feel safe when they can't even talk to us ? Another joke from the government/police . . . .
Discussion 21 : 24/10/2012 at 07:05 AM
Safety zones......with incompetent "policemen" and if they can't help the tourists they "should leave"....and go where???
Discussion 22 : 24/10/2012 at 07:01 AM
That is a nice idea. How about making the whole of Thailand a safer place for everybody not only tourists? How about police doing their duty and being held responsible everywhere?
Discussion 23 : 24/10/2012 at 06:40 AM
What about getting rid of Tuk Tuk, Jet Ski and other scams. Sorry that would involve proper police work and would hurt their pockets. It is an embarrassment to the Nation when they make these statements which everyone knows are just hot air
Discussion 24 : 24/10/2012 at 06:29 AM
I think with more police, tourist will be more scare and then we have less tourist. hehehe
Discussion 25 : 24/10/2012 at 06:08 AM
Where should we complain for the police who demand bribes (rob)from foreigners?
Discussion 26 : 24/10/2012 at 05:50 AM
Aren't the police the 2nd biggest criminal gang after the army?
Discussion 27 : 24/10/2012 at 05:50 AM
More fluff. Another "all talk and no action" report that will do nothing because the Thai Police will do nothing. Whatever happened to Deputy PM Chalerm's claim to wipe out the mafia-like influences at major tourist areas within 90 days that he made about 4 months ago?
Discussion 28 : 24/10/2012 at 05:33 AM
So the police are going to protect tourists? Does that mean the "cigarette" Police, and the targeting of foreigners with body and bag searches around Asoke will be rolled out over the city? If that is the way the Thai Police like to protect tourists, I will spend my hard earned in some other country.
Discussion 29 : 24/10/2012 at 05:28 AM
As long as the tourist police are kept away, there should be no trouble.
Discussion 30 : 24/10/2012 at 05:14 AM
Interesting that they include Ratchadapisek road, but not Sukhumvit road? I would have thought that Sukhumvit road (and Rama 1 road) from National Stadium BTS all the way to Phrom Phong BTS are tourist hotspots and deserving of the same treatment. What part of Ratchadapisek Roads are tourist hotspots? The Soi Cowboy area I assume, or is it where the pubs are (popular mainly with Thai's) around Rachada Soi's 1 - 8?

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