China threatens to drop Thailand from destinations list
Updated at 3.52pm, Monday The China tourism authority is threatening to drop Thailand from its official list of approved destinations if the Thai authorities do not stop promoting the country's sex industry to mainland tourists, Shanghai-based Labour News reported on Monday.
Chinese officials made the comments when they joined representatives from Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand at a conference on regional tourism in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, recently.
The National Tourism Administration complained that Thai travel operators encourage Chinese tourists to visit ?indecent places?, said the newspaper.
The Chinese authorities said the three governments have not done enough to improve their tourism markets. They said there were often hidden prices in tour packages and customers were sometimes manipulated by travel agents.
Thailand and Singapore tour operators often offer Chinese tourists cheap deals, but then force them to buy goods and services they do not want to get extra revenue. Travel agents also sometimes provide fewer services than they promise, said Labour News.
Chinese officials complained to the Malaysian government that Chinese tourists are often stranded in the country because of inconsistent immigration policies, the newspaper said.
Representatives from the three countries promised to take the complaints seriously and to launch a new round of crackdowns on irregularities, according to Labour News.
China has approved 15 countries as official destinations for Chinese tourists, most of which are in Southeast Asia.
