Indonesian woman arrested for illegally working as tour guide

Police arrested an Indonesian woman at Wat Pho in Bangkok yesterday for illegally working as a tour guide.

Tourist Police Bureau officers received a complaint that an Indonesian woman illegally offered a travel package in Thailand to 133 Indonesian tourists between September 19 and 22. The woman did not possess a tour guide permit and her travel package was not offered under a registered travel agency.

Officers conducted a search for the Indonesian woman and closely monitored each popular travel destination in Thailand until they encountered her yesterday, September 22, later identified as Siwalee, at Wat Pho, also known as Wat Phra Chetuphon Wimon Mangkhalaram Rajwaramahawihan.

Siwalee was taken to the Royal Palace Police Station for questioning. Her actions were considered violations of three laws including:

• Section 80 of the Tourist Business and Guide Act: operating a travel agency without a permit. The penalty is imprisonment of up to two years, a fine of up to 500,000 baht, or both.
• Section 86 of the Tourist Business and Guide Act: working as a tour guide without a permit. The penalty is imprisonment of up to one year, a fine of up to 100,000 baht, or both.
• Sections 8 and 101 of the Emergency Decree on Foreigners’ Working Management: working without a work permit. The penalty is a fine of 5,000 to 50,000 baht, deportation, and a ban on applying for a work permit for two years.

In a related report, a Chinese man was arrested in Pattaya in August after illegally operating a travel agency and advertising his services on the TikTok application. His arrest occurred while he was taking his foreign clients to Pattaya Floating Market.

The Chinese man confessed to the illegal activity and explained that he charged each foreigner 500 yuan, or about 14,500 baht, for a six-day trip in Thailand.

Two South Korean nationals were arrested in Chiang Mai in June for offering personal tour guide services to foreign visitors at prices ranging from 10,000 to 15,000 baht, depending on the duration of the trip. They were also found to be overstaying their visas.