Junta to receive TCT's Thailand tourism-revival plans

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Junta to receive TCT's tourism-revival plans
Suchat Sritama
The Nation


Foreign tourist walk at Siam Paragon at the period of The Tourism Council of Thailand will propose three strategic plans to the ruling junta next Wednesday to revive tourism.

BANGKOK: -- The Tourism Council of Thailand will propose three strategic plans to the ruling junta next Wednesday to revive tourism, said TCT vice president Thanate Vorasaran.

The TCT will be among seven key industries meeting with the National Council for Peace and Order on July 16 to discuss rebuilding the economy in both the short and long terms. Thanate said the first plan was to ask the junta to waive visa fees for tourists from mainland China and Taiwan ahead of the coming high season. The current visa fee is Bt1,000.

"China and Taiwan are among the biggest sources for Thai tourism, while spending per head by Chinese last year was Bt43,000 per trip, close to that of Japanese," he said.

Thanate said waiving visa fees for other source markets might not be much help, as most of those fees are already low, but the situation with Chinese is different. This is just a short-term strategy to rebuild tourism after it suffered from the anti-government political movement. If the proposal is approved, the number of visitors from Taiwan and the mainland should not decline this year. "Thailand lost almost 2 million visitors from China and Taiwan during the first six months. If there's no big campaign [to lure them back], we will undergo more suffering," he said.

According to the Association of Thai Travel Agents, 4.7 million Chinese tourists visited Thailand last year, one of the biggest sources, while Taiwan has been a high-potential market for years. The ATTA had expected more than 5 million Chinese visitors this year. However, arrivals from China through ATTA members dropped by 50 per cent during first six months, while the Taiwan market plunged 60 per cent compared with the same period last year.

The second strategy the TCT plans to propose to the junta is to re-establish the National Tourism Development Committee. If the committee is reinstated, it could work with other organisations on tourism development, especially in the areas of funding and budgeting. For years, the tourism sector pushed to work with other bodies but always failed to get anywhere. Many cross-projects were not achieved as planned.

The last proposal is designating seven provinces that counted more than a million international visitors a year as special administration zones. This designation would allow the provinces to determine their own tourism-management direction.

The seven provinces in the proposal are Phuket, Surat Thani, Songkhla, Chon Buri, Chiang Mai, Prachuap Khiri Khan, and Bangkok.

"Provinces that host a lot of tourists should have their own strategic plans, not only for tourism itself but also related industries like food supply, transport, security, and medical services," Thanate said.

Moreover, some alternative administration plans will be proposed for another 12 provinces with more than 500,000 tourists a year, such as Krabi, Kanchanburi and Phetchaburi.

"The setting up of a National Tourism Development Committee and justifying the declaration of special zones are part of the long-term [strategy] created by the TCT," Thanate said.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Junta-to-receive-TCTs-tourism-revival-plans-30238047.html


-- The Nation 2014-07-09

[chooka]

Why doesn't the Junta combine the TCT & TAT together into one body. TAT comes up with one plan to boost tourism and the TCT with another and you have two forces pushing against each other. Two Budgets and two bodies that do nothing but spew rubbish.

[thhMan]

The Junta is slapping everyones face ..

I hope they also look into the wasteful spending and corruption that the tourism industry suffers from rogue operators and Government officials...

[chooka]

I think the TAT may have jumped ahead of the TCT with this idea which isn't a bad one.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand has worked with local insurance firms to promote travel insurance service for foreign tourists to recover tourist confidence.

With the Martial Law and companies abroad not providing insurance this TAT initiative may just work. Make it at a reduced rate and recoup your loss with increased numbers.

[upena]

I think the TAT may have jumped ahead of the TCT with this idea which isn't a bad one.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand has worked with local insurance firms to promote travel insurance service for foreign tourists to recover tourist confidence.

With the Martial Law and companies abroad not providing insurance this TAT initiative may just work. Make it at a reduced rate and recoup your loss with increased numbers.

The insurance plan isn't final yet and if it is approved, 99.9% of foreigners will have no idea where to go to purchase. All just part of the TAT show.

[Oziex1]

I think the TAT may have jumped ahead of the TCT with this idea which isn't a bad one.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand has worked with local insurance firms to promote travel insurance service for foreign tourists to recover tourist confidence.

With the Martial Law and companies abroad not providing insurance this TAT initiative may just work. Make it at a reduced rate and recoup your loss with increased numbers.

The insurance plan isn't final yet and if it is approved, 99.9% of foreigners will have no idea where to go to purchase. All just part of the TAT show.

Offer with air ticket and /or accomodation.

[wabothai]

I though the military were there to maintain peace and order. Why would the plans have to be sent to the junta, iso the ministry of tourism?

[Lancelot]

I wonder if TAT or the Junta has ever considered asking tourists why they do -or don't- visit Thailand?

Edited July 9, 2014 by Lancelot

[oldsailor35]

Maybe if they stopped stuffing around with visa regulations and brought some consistency into the matter, different border posts seem to have different rules.

[Jim walker]

I am sure that the Junta is very knowledgeable regarding global travel with all their traveling around the world to the various war zones and disaster zones with their well renowned humanitarian aid and assistance, what travel flights to catch and how much Baht to donate to the various causes, boots on the ground military personnel and now it going to be so easy to get the tourist boots on the ground organised for more tourists for Thailand

[Alwyn]

Waive visa fees for the Chinese, the ones who have the least spend per tourist and re-establish a committee, now there's some forward thinking for you!