Tourists to face closer monitoring

[Admin]

Tourists to face closer monitoring
Published: 1/08/2010 at 12:00 AM
Bangkok Post: Newspaper section: News

The Immigration Bureau will start a new campaign next month to keep track of the whereabouts of all tourists by enforcing reporting requirements of hotels, resorts and guesthouses.

Bureau chief Wuthi Liptapallop said managers failing to comply will face arrest and fines of up to 10,000 baht per tourist if they do not fulfil their obligations.

Under Section 38 of the Immigration Act, managers of residences, hotels, guesthouses, condominiums and resorts have to notify the Immigration Office about guests within 24 hours of their arrival.

Pol Lt Gen Wuthi said the provision had long existed but had not been fully enforced. The opening of the Immigration Control System Centre next month and an improved computer system at the bureau now made this possible.

"We will now request from the managers of those places information on each guest, by computer, every day," he said. "We are now receiving information from about 60% of them. This should rise to 70% next month, and more in the following weeks."

Lt Gen Wuthi said about 80,000 people arrive in Thailand daily through several entry points, "but we don't know exactly where these foreign tourists stay, how long they will stay, for example, in Bangkok, Chiang Mai or in other places".

"This might sound like an ambitious project, but in fact we can actually accomplish it quite easily," he said.

Under Section 77 of the Immigration Act, managers who don't comply face arrest and a fine of 2,000-10,000 baht per day for each unreported guest.

Lt Gen Wuthi said the data collected would be reported to every ambassador, which would give them confidence "that we are trying to serve and protect their nationals".

"We have to identify who the people are, and where they are staying," he said. "If you remember when the tsunami struck Thailand in December 2004, we had some problems with the identification of victims. We had no information or any data on them. With this method, we will have information on almost every tourist, making it easier to identify them if something happens."

Information about the 1,000 foreign fugitives believed to be living here would also be put into the system. "It should be easier to locate them," he said.