Govt lists ways in which it has ‘rushed’ to help tourism sector
The government said it has “rushed” to help tourism operators financially and introduced travel subsidy schemes amid the Covid-19 crisis because the businesses are an important force in driving economic recovery.
It listed the ways in which it has helped businesses:
1. Enhanced liquidity with low-interest loans featuring total credit lines of more than 150 billion baht, such as the GSB Soft Loan project.
2. Provided measures to reduce the burden of collateral deposits by tour operators to 30 per cent, resulting in a return of collateral to 6,639 operators, amounting to more than 498 million baht.
3. Reopened the country to international visitors and stimulating domestic tourism. This includes helping to restart the tourism business, organising seminars, developing policies to revitalise the industry, introducing the Health Safety Standards (SHA) certification and promoting domestic tourism by offering subsidies on hotel rooms, flights and food.
The government hopes to attract around five million foreign tourists this year, with revenue of more than 350 billion baht. It also aims to see 90 million domestic trips, generating over 299 billion baht in tourism revenue.