TCT urges next governor to strengthen Bangkok's tourism

The winner of the gubernatorial election needs to highlight a policy that makes the capital a clean city and one that tourists find a more convenient and comfortable place to visit, the council said. 

Safety is also an essential requirement, said TCT president Piyamarn Techapaibul, adding that she did not mind which political party the winner represents. 

According to the Tourism and Sports Ministry, 10.44 million foreign tourists visited Bangkok and spent Bt251.54 billion in 2010. The number of visitors increased to 13.8 million the following year, while 12.66 million visitors spent about Bt224 billion in just the first nine months of last year. 

Tourism revenue from Bangkok makes up 50 per cent of the Kingdom’s total income from foreign tourists. 

Piyamarn said the average stay of foreigners in Bangkok was one and a half days, down from three days/two nights previously. The new governor should therefore look for ways to increase their stay to at least two days to increase revenue, she said, as there is clearly a lack of new attractions to persuade them to stay longer. 

Yesterday, the TCT invited the two leading candidates in the gubernatorial race, incumbent MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra and Pongsapat Pongcharoen, to map out their tourism policies in separate presentations. 

However, no clear plan was put forward by either of them as to how Bangkok would be positioned over the next four years.

Sukhumbhand, backed by the Democrat Party and accompanied by party head and Opposition Leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, said there was no problem for him in working with the central government, led by the Pheu Thai Party. 

However, he said he would always protect the interests of Bangkokians at the same time, especially when this involved having different ideas from those of the government. This is a principle of working style in a mature nation, he added.

 

MORE GREENERY 

He also said he would continue following his existing policy, especially in regard to making Bangkok a genuinely green capital city. 

During his term in office, he turned 5,000 rai (800 hectares) of inner Bangkok into areas with greenery, while outside the inner city eight public parks were established in which people could relax. 

He plans to add another 5,000 rai of green inner-city areas and 10 public parks under his plan for the capital should he be re-elected, he added. 

On the safety issue, he said he had been working with the private sector to support the installation of 200,000 closed-circuit television cameras outside office buildings. During his term in office, the city had already installed more than 24,000 cameras. 

Abhisit described Bangkok as one of the world’s major tourist destinations, with a strong advantage over its rivals in terms of culture and its people. 

He stressed that his party’s candidate had retained a greater focus on this issue, in hopes of keeping Bangkok at the top of the rankings of world’s most attractive cities to travel to.

Pongsapat accepted that he did not have a strong knowledge of tourism, but said he would work seamlessly with the central government to help promote the sector in Bangkok. 

He said he was willing to receive and study the opinions of all tourism operators. If he won the governor’s seat, he would cooperate with central government in moving viable projects forward. 

He acknowledged that the role of governor was limited in the sense that the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) had no absolute power in making decisions because it always had to work in conjunction with state agencies. 

He said he would, therefore, create an integrated solution for moving the tourism industry forward.

However, tourism operators said the Bangkok city council was perfectly capable of making decisions on its own initiative. 

They cited cleanliness as an example, in that the BMA can build public toilets without having to receive permission from any agencies. Moreover, the city can reduce congestion in some areas by decentralising its tourism locations, they said.