CityNews – Pairoj Kullawanit of the Office of Commercial Affairs Chiang Mai along with authorities and officials conducted a survey of prices advertised by local businesses on May 21st. Together they hoped to discover first whether business were advertising prices, and if the advertised prices were fair for customers in tourist areas.
According to Pairoj, there have been recent complaints of the prices of products and services in tourist areas, therefore Governor Suriya Prasatbandit tasked the team with the survey of stores, restaurants, clothing shops and pharmacies.
The first area examined was the parking lot of Wat Phra That Doi Suthep where many restaurants operate. They found that most restaurants did post price tags, but there were several that did not. They communicated to those restaurants that were not posting prices that they must post prices according to law on products and services instituted by the Ministry of Commerce.
The second location surveyed was the restaurant area opposite Chiang Mai University. Some restaurants in the area sell bowls of noodles for 80 baht, but the restaurant claimed that they only sell a more expensive dish due to the higher quality of their ingredients. The price was not discovered to be disproportionate and there were no complaints by patrons of the restaurant.
In the survey of some local drug stores that officials of Chiang Mai Provincial Public Health Office suggested that drugstores cannot sell certain medicines on their own.
The examination of these businesses continues.