Thailand News

Swiss tourist fined in Phuket for encroaching a National Park protected zone

Published

3 years ago

08/12/2017

Swiss tourist fined in Phuket for encroaching a National Park protected zone | Samui Times

An official from Ao Phang Nga National Park, who declined to be named, said, “We saw that the tourist was driving a jet-ski in a protected area close to Hong Island off Phang Nga National Park at 4:20pm yesterday so we had to call him and ask him to stop.

“There were two men on the jet-ski, both from Switzerland, but the driver was Sandre Diener, 45. He drove the jet-ski from Naka Island to Hong Island, which is about 10 kilometres,” the official said.

“They appeared not to know that they had done something wrong, so we explained to them that this area is a protected under the National Park Conservation Act.

“Jet-skis and other personal watercraft are banned from the area. Only those who have been given permission by the National Park Office can bring watercraft into the area

Diener was fined B1,000 and given information about the law for this area. I also warned the jet-ski owner, who runs a rental shop, about the tourist’s behaviour.

“I also told the owner to show tourists a map prior to him renting out jet-skis so this problem does not happen again.”

The official added, “Please be reminded not to drive jet-skis or watercraft in National Park zones. Rental shops should be obligated to warn tourists about situations such as this.”

The Phuket News

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