What should a Tour Booking Agreement include under Thai law?

1. Definitions and Interpretation
2. The Tour
3. Price and Payment
4. Price Changes
5. Travellers' Documents, Health and Conduct
6. Changes by the Tour Operator Before Departure
7. Minimum Number of Travellers
8. Cancellation and Transfer by the Customer
9. Cancellation by the Tour Operator
10. Force Majeure
11. Performance, Complaints During the Tour and Liability
12. Insurance
13. Personal Data
14. Complaints, Notices, Law and Disputes
15. General

• Selling or running tours in Thailand requires a tour business licence from the Department of Tourism, of the type that covers the area of the Tour, and the licensed business must lodge security with the registrar. Guides must hold a valid guide card. Check that the licence number in this Agreement is current and matches the Tour (Clause 2.2).
• Licensed tour businesses must insure tourists against accidents. Enter the actual policy in Clause 12 and send the certificate to the Customer before departure.
• Make sure the brochure, website and messages describe the same Tour as Schedule 1. Descriptions that the Customer relied on also bind the Tour Operator (Clause 15.1).

• The deposit is part of the Tour Price, not a non-refundable fee. The only charges on cancellation are those in Clause 8.2.
• Cancellation charges are treated as a penalty under Thai law. A court may reduce a charge that is disproportionate to the Tour Operator's real loss (Civil and Commercial Code section 383). If you resell the place, refund what you recover (Clause 8.3). Keep supplier invoices to show your actual costs.
• A traveller may send someone else in his or her place with 7 days' notice, paying only the suppliers' actual change fees (Clause 8.5).

• Tell the Customer at once of any significant change before departure and offer a choice between accepting it with a price reduction or cancelling with a full refund (Clause 6.2).
• If fewer than … travellers book, you may cancel only by notice given at least … days before departure, with a full refund (Clause 7).
• If the Tour is cancelled because of force majeure, refund everything within 14 days, except items issued in a traveller's name on the Customer's instructions that cannot be refunded (Clause 10.2). During the Tour, arrange alternatives and assistance, including up to 3 nights' accommodation if travellers are stranded (Clause 10.3).
• Every refund in this Agreement is due within 14 days. Pay it by the same method the Customer used, where possible.

• Collect each traveller's passport details for Schedule 2 and check them against the passports before departure. Travellers are responsible for their visas (Clause 5.1).
• For each traveller under 20 who is not travelling with a parent or legal representative, obtain a written consent signed by the legal representative, with a copy of that person's identity document (Clause 5.5). A separate guardian consent form is useful for this.
• Only the traveller concerned, or the legal representative of a traveller under 20, may sign the health and dietary consent in Schedule 2 Part B. The person who books cannot consent for other adults.

• Give every traveller a privacy notice explaining that passport details are sent to airlines, hotels, insurers and immigration authorities, some of which may be outside Thailand (Clause 13.2). Delete passport copies and health information within 90 days after the Tour unless a claim is pending (Clause 13.5).
• Ask for separate written consent before posting photographs of identifiable travellers (Clause 13.4).

• A package tour is a contract to provide services for a price. Thai revenue officers may treat it as a hire of work (Instrument 4 of the Stamp Duty Schedule): 1 THB for every 1,000 THB or part of 1,000 THB of the price. On the Tour Price you entered, that would be the amount the system calculates from the figures entered, with the amount the system calculates from the figures entered on each counterpart, paid by the Tour Operator. Ask your accountant how you treat your tour contracts, and stamp the Agreement if you may need to use it in a Thai court.

• A VAT-registered Tour Operator must issue a tax invoice for each payment. Prices quoted to consumers should include VAT (Clause 3.1).
• If a Thai company books the Tour, it may have to withhold tax on the service fee. Agree beforehand whether the Tour Price is quoted before or after that withholding.

• Answer complaints in writing within 14 days (Clause 14.1). Tourists may also complain to the Department of Tourism, which can pay compensation from the security lodged by licensed tour businesses, or to the consumer protection authorities.
• A Thai court works in Thai. A certified Thai translation of this Agreement and of any English messages will be needed. A foreign consumer may still rely on consumer protection laws of his or her own country in some cases (Clause 14.3).

Compiled from the notes that accompany the English contract templates on this site, published by Phuwara Krobtaku (ภูวรา ครอบตะคุ), Thai attorney-at-law, licence no. 477/2558. The short answer and summary at the top of this page are put together by the site from the template's clause headings and notes. Statutes are quoted only in the official Thai text: Thai is the only official language of Thai legislation, and an unofficial translation can mislead. Article registry OKC-27B127. If you reuse this content, please credit the author and link to the original.