Thailand Again Increases Budget For Resort Tourism

Thailand again increases budget for resort tourism

BANGKOK: -- Thailand will spend 1.5 billion baht more on promoting tourism to revive southwest resorts hurt by the tsunami disaster, the new tourism minister, Pracha Maleenont, said.

"Reviving business to Phuket and south Thailand remains our top priority," Pracha said Friday. Pracha replaced Somsak Thepsutin as tourism minister in a cabinet reshuffle this month.

The government gave the Tourism Authority an additional 2.5 billion baht, or about $61 million, last month to help the industry, which accounted for 6.4 percent of the economy in 2004. Most of the original 4.6 billion baht annual budget was spent in the first half of the year, the governor of the authority, Juthamas Siriwan, said in July.

Large waves triggered by an earthquake in December killed more than 5,400 people in Thailand, including many foreign visitors. Hotel and airline bookings for affected areas like Phuket are down 70 percent, even after the introduction of a tsunami warning system and a $750 million government rebuilding budget.

"Obviously with the tsunami we saw a dip in the region and a particular impact in Thailand," said Ian Wheeler, head of marketing at Amadeus Global Travel Distribution, a large travel reservations company. "Now I would say the region has recovered in total, but Thailand is still a bit down."

Only two beaches damaged by the tsunami have been fully restored and other recovery work is unlikely to be completed before the peak season starting in October, The Bangkok Post reported Saturday, citing Vichit Na Ranong, chairman of the Tourism Council of Thailand.

Thailand's economy contracted 0.6 percent in the first quarter from the fourth quarter of 2004. Last year, Thailand attracted a record 11.7 million visitors, missing its 12 million target.

Pracha said Thailand still hoped to meet record tourist targets this year "in spite of the consequences of the high oil prices, Thai economic slowdown, the situation in southern Thailand and the lingering impact of the tsunami."

The Tourism Authority wants to attract a record 13.4 million foreign visitors and 76 million domestic trips this year, he said.

The ministry plans to promote resort areas not damaged by the tsunami, including Hua Hin, Cha-am, Samui and Chumphon, as well as the northern city of Chiang Mai, and to "position Thailand as the film-making capital of Asia" by easing bureaucracy.

Losses to Thailand's tourism industry may be as much as 50 billion baht, 52 percent higher than the 33 billion baht the government had expected, Juthamas, of the Tourism Authority, said in the interview in July. The rebuilding bill is estimated at $1 billion.

--IHT 2005-08-22