Ill-fated Thailand tour organizer had no international license

HCM City authorities have said that the travel agency involved in the ill-fated tour of Thailand by 22 Vietnamese citizens last week did not have legal authority to organize international tours.
The tour came to a tragic end with the death of one and serious injuries to several others in a road accident that happened when the driver of the bus in which the tourists were traveling fell asleep at the wheel and rammed the vehicle into a ditch.
Viet Horizon Travel Co. Ltd, which organized the tour, had not yet registered and received approval to organize international tours, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has announced.
The department said the company’s office was located on No.3 Bau Cat street in Tan Binh District.
As of now, the city’s inspectors have not been able to talk to the company’s director, Pham Tan Nhut, because he is one of the tourists injured in the accident undergoing treatment in Thailand.
The inspectors are investigating that whether or not the company is an agency of other travel companies which have international travel business licenses.
The company co-organized with a Thai company a tour for 22 Vietnamese people to Thailand from February 16, the third day of the Lunar New Year.
The accident occurred while the tourists were on their way from Pattaya to Bangkok.
The Thai driver, working for the Thai company, fell asleep around 30 kilometers from Bangkok and the bus crashed into a ditch on the side of the road, said passenger La Huu Tien. Tien who suffered some scratches.
His wife had three ribs broken and is being treated in Thailand.
The body of the tourist who died, Nguyen Ngoc Dung of Tan Binh District, has been brought back to Vietnam while those with serious injuries – the director and deputy director of the company and a passenger – are still being treated in Thailand.
Around 600 travel agencies – 310 domestic and 290 international – have been awarded licensed to organize tours within and outside the country so far, according to the city tourism department.