Tourists have been named as a major cause of pirated goods in Thailand.

Now the Ministry of Tourism and Sports has called in tour operators to get tough and stop tourists from visiting shops selling fake goods.

The move comes after the PM ordered authorities in the country to stop the trade. In turn the general himself has been under pressure from foreign manufacturers to do something.

Now much of the blame is being laid at the tourists’ door as 90% of all pirated goods on sale are being offered in tourist areas such as Patpong in Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket.

Items such as watches, bags and fake brand name clothing are everywhere and when tourists buy them and take them home the image of Thailand as a hub for such items only gets worse, said TNA.

So now a campaign has been launched entitled “Tourism and the War on Piracy”.

The Tourism and Sports Ministry have met with tour groups’ representatives to request that tourists are not taken to places where pirated goods are on sale.

The tour group operators are further being asked to tell tourists not to buy fake goods and why they shouldn’t.

Yesterday a large group of operators, embassy officials, guides, revenue department officials and tourist police met in Bangkok to launch the campaign.

(Source:Thai News Agency)