Many travel agencies in Vietnam have expressed their outrage about Thailand’s unusual immigration requirement that tourists from Vietnam show cash to Thai immigration officers at Arayaprathet border gate to gain permission to enter Thailand.
Illustrative image. – File photo
The offensive requirement has caused an uproar among tour operators and travelers after they heard that a number of Vietnamese travelers were forced to stand in front of a webcam showing US$700, or 20,000 bahts, for immigration officers to take photos at the check point between Thailand and Cambodia last week.
Though tour operators said this regulatory requirement for tourists to show a certain amount of cash has existed for years and the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s HCMC office confirmed this policy is applicable to all foreign visitors, they still regarded a signboard at the border gate that reads tourists from Vietnam and 10 other countries might be questioned as an act of discrimination and disrespect.
Dao Hong Thuong, deputy director of Vietsky Travel Company based in Hanoi, said that it was offensive and unacceptable for tourists to be forced to hold up US$700 or 20,000 bahts close to their face for immigration officers to take photos.
On the same side, Tran Van Long, general director of HCMC-based Viet Media Travel Corporation, said the policy was an act of disregard and contempt for Vietnamese tourists.
Long said if Thailand continued to do so, it was possible that Vietnamese visitors would boycott Thailand tours and that this incident would cause the number of Vietnamese visitors to Thailand to decline in the coming time.
Tuoi Tre newspaper quoted a number of Vietnamese travelers as saying that they felt like they were criminals when compelled to hold up cash for photography.
Nguyen Manh Hung, who traveled to Thailand during the holidays of Vietnam Reunification Day (April 30) and International Labor Day (May 1), said many members of his group did not bring enough cash with them, so when Thai customs officers asked them to show cash, they felt embarrassed.
“The travel agency arranging that tour for us tried to negotiate but the immigration officers there still required each of us to present US$700 or 20,000 bahts in front of a webcam at the check-in desk for photography before letting us through,” Hung said.
A tour operator in HCMC said the policy of Thailand had angered its Vietnamese guests. Therefore, this firm had to explain that only those who travel by themselves were told to show cash and pose with it as travel agencies had guaranteed sufficient funding for their trips to Thailand.
Tour operators said only the tourists traveling by land had to prove their finances with the Thai immigration officers at border gates while those coming to Thailand by air will be spared from the requirement.
According to the TAT’s office in HCMC, the Immigration Department of Thailand has issued regulations requiring foreign visitors to present US$700 or 20,000 bahts in cash at the immigration check points upon request.
Last year, more than 787,000 Vietnamese people visited Thailand, up 27.26% over the previous year.
Source: SGT
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