Tourism campaign for '2nd-tier' provinces
The Tourism Council of Thailand and the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion are working together to promote second-tier provinces by dividing them into clusters and creating for each group an "identity'' to use as a selling point in the touri
The objective is to strengthen the provincial tourism industry, mainly operated by small and medium-sized enterprises, before the implementation of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) in 2015.
Under the AEC, the country will face fiercer competition from neighbouring nations that have similar tourism products as Thailand, said Thanate Vorasaran, vice president of the Tourism Council of Thailand.
Having its own identity is essential for each cluster. This would not only create an impression among tourists, but would give rise to businesses such as producing souvenirs or building themed tourism with cultural stories, as well as creating intra-provincial tourism. This would increase unique tourism qualities and also allow local operators to earn additional income.
Under the plan, nine clusters will be built, covering 52 provinces. They are Central region, west coast, east coast, Andaman in the South region, Gulf of Thailand in the South region, upper North region, lower North region, upper Northeast region, and lower Northeast region.
For example, the upper Northeast region is conceptualised as “Spicy Isaan”.
A dinosaur is the trademark of the cluster, which includes Udon Thani, Khon Kaen, Kalasin and Nong Khai provinces. SME operators in the cluster can cash in on the dinosaur symbol commercially, with souvenir production.
The plan is to boost spending in the tourism industry by more than Bt100 million over the next five years.
