Tourism bodies back govt

Ittirit Kinglake, president of the Tourism Council of Thailand, gave the military-led government a mark of out of eight of 10 in expressing the body’s satisfaction with its problem-solving efforts to help get tourism back to normal.
He urged the government to continue its crackdown on illegal business operations at all major destinations, along with pushing for improvements in regard to service and standards, human-resource skills, as well as easing concerns over of the Kingdom’s air-travel safety.
Surapong Techaruvichit, president of the Thai Hotels Association, said the tourism sector had begun to bounce back in the final quarter of last year after plunging during the previous months due to the country’s political crisis.
Improvement in the political situation also led to continued growth for the sector during the first three months of this year, he said.
“Several good signs, including the lifting of martial law and an overall peaceful situation, have drawn tourists back to the Kingdom. I hope the sector continues to grow during the current quarter,” he added.
To maintain Thailand’s position on the global travel map, he urged the government to continue to promote and support tourism by searching for more quality tourists, business travellers and niche markets in order to increase income even further.
However, Surapong advised the government and the private sector to prepare plans that would enable the country to cope better with unforeseen issues, such as aviation-safety problems and natural disasters, which could otherwise have a further huge impact on the travel industry.
Charoen Wangananont, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA), said the government should put more effort into the vital tourism sector, especially in terms of attracting high-spending foreign visitors, as well as boosting security.
“Tourists first need to feel confident when planning to come to Thailand. Safety and security are vital if we want to get foreigners back,” he said.
ATTA also demanded that the government do everything in its power to ease the ongoing aviation-safety problem as soon as possible, because it was is now damaging the entire tourism sector.
Sermkhun Kunawong, chairman of the Event Management Association, said the junta’s power seizure last year was important for event organisers in that it ended the intense political and economic uncertainty that had built up during the six-month-long demonstrations against the former government.
Last year’s event business was hit hard by the anti-government protests, because prime locations for organising key events in Bangkok were occupied by the demonstrators for much of the first half of the year.
“The restoration of political stability and public security is an outstanding output from this current government as far as the event-business sector is concerned. Our business risks involved in holding marketing events in those affected areas were eliminated,” he explained.