200 Local Travel Reps Protest Chinese Price Undercut at Night Safari

[misskit]

Over 200 people representing travel agencies, the Chiang Mai Professional Tourist Guide Alliance, and songtaew and tuk tuk drivers gathered to protest at the Chiang Mai Night Safari on 30th September, claiming that Chinese websites were offering drastic price reductions to entrance tickets.

The group, led by the president of Inter Guide Club, protested against the ticket price cut and appealed to authorities to set a solid price applicable to all.


According to the protesters, many Chinese websites including Taobao.com have offered discounted prices for the entrance ticket to the Chiang Mai Night Safari. Tickets can be found as cheap at 30 yuan (around 150 baht) which contrasts with the door prices which are 400 baht for Thais and 800 baht for foreigners.


The protesters revealed that the huge price gap had caused great confusions amongst tourists, some of whom have accused tourist guides and transportation entrepreneurs of overcharging. These drivers and tour guides tend to receive generous kickbacks from destinations such as the Night Safari when they take tourists there, and this price reduction has undermined this system. They say that many tourists, when they arrive and see the door prices, merely go online and purchase their much cheaper tickets this way.


The complaint was directed at the acting-director of Chiang Mai Night Safari which has appointed the president of Tourism Council of Chiang Mai and Tourism Development Committee of Lanna Tourism Development as the committee to solve the issue.


The acting-director of Chiang Mai Night Safari Netnapa Suttidumrongtam said that the Night Safari had never undercut its prices in such a way, claiming that it was perhaps sales techniques of Chinese travel agents which led to the great reduction. The trick, she said, was that some companies purchased tickets in advance and sold them at low prices to attract customers while likely increasing other costs in the package to compensate. She went on to insist that the Chiang Mai Night Safari does not have the authority to interfere with individual companies’ pricing strategies.


According to reports, the various parties will meet again on October 5th and 6th and hope that the matter will be concluded by the 22nd.





200 Local Travel Reps Protest Chinese Price Undercut at Night Safari | Chiang Mai Citylife

[beerlaodrinker]

They sure hate it when they get beaten at there own game.

[Maanaam]

They sure hate it when they get beaten at there own game.

Yeah. I'm not sure if they're pissed off more that their colluding in price-fixing has been foiled or if it's because it's been done by foreigners.
But the Safari rep is right...

some companies purchased tickets in advance and sold them at low prices to attract customers while likely increasing other costs in the package to compensate. She went on to insist that the Chiang Mai Night Safari does not have the authority to interfere with individual companies’ pricing strategies.

They say that many tourists, when they arrive and see the door prices, merely go online and purchase their much cheaper tickets this way.

Rubbish! The tickets are part of a package.

[david44]

This will increase as the net on yoour smartphone allows the disruption of price discovery.

Should you want lung damage
http://www.khaosodenglish.com/featur...nd-greenpeace/

The Luddites may be fobbed off temporarily like Uber ban in London .

However the touts business model is you pay a premium as

1 You lack local language
2 You likley it hard to locate places as a first time visitor who cannot read thai
3 You may be unfamilair with local prices, exchange rate and whether tips expected /normal
4 Many rip off /inefficient travel comapnies say Tourist Info a sign associated with impartial advice in developed countries
5 Kick backs gouging, bill padding are all considered normal/fair game as clients are "MARKS/PUNTERS"

Dual pricing has existed on menus for years and at public attractions

I read that AI and new technology will lead to loss of many white collar jobs in developed countries god help the locals

I know it seems fantasy NOW but driverless cars, Uber and Air BnB or similar will replace the touts in time.

The night safari is of course a phoney racket a prison for animals and a gravy train for low skilled.

The fact that C Mai has more supporters of taxins , toxins than METRED taxis means best avoid, I blame it on the redheaded lawyers

It has awful air quality and has skewed a once beautiful Lanna culture to sucking the tourist dollar/COCK

Hard to imagine you could go downmarket from teh $10 a day slackpacker then the zero dollar chicken bone spitters arrived

Gassing the sleeping, murdering foreigners of course is a National sport and I believe despite a strong showing C mai trails Koh Tao in sheer fatalities per talad meter

My Pen Lie /Mei Guanxi perhaps they'll be reincarnated as chicken feed in the next wife

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