Four-year plan aims to boost tourism
THE NATIONAL Tourism Policy Committee has unveiled a four-year plan to enhance tourism competitiveness and has also approved a special zone focusing on four islands in southern Thailand.
Deputy Prime Minister General Tanasak Patimapragorn yesterday said the committee would organise a series of training programmes for three groups involved in the tourism sector. The three groups are: tourist guides and tour operators; service providers; and citizens/private sector.
“During the four-year programme, more than 107,020 people are expected to undergo training,” Tanasak said.
More than 10,000 tourism operators are also expected to get quality certification three or four months after training.
He added that the programme was part of the national tourism policy which has been focusing on enhancing competitiveness as the government wants to shift the overall tourism emphasis from volume to quality.
Over the past months, the government has already moved to crack down on illegal businesses, tour operators, tourist guides, and non-registered hotels in major tourist cities – Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Prachuab Khiri Khan, and Phetchaburi.
There was also a heavy crackdown on “zero-dollar tours” or cheap packages organised by tour operators from China, in a bid to gain quality tourists.
During the first 10 months of this year, Thailand welcomed 27.07 million international tourists who generated income of Bt1.35 trillion, a 14.98-per-cent increase over the same period last year. Mainland China, Malaysia and South Korea comprised the top three in terms of number of tourists. From November 1-27, 275,033 tourists visited the Grand Palace in Bangkok.
Tanasak said the committee has pruned the number of national tourism subcommittees from 19 to 11 to improve efficiency.
The National Tourism Policy Committee also approved a plan to develop a special zone for tourism in southern Thailand. The newly designated area will cover Koh Samui, Koh Pha-ngan, Koh Tao, and Kog Ang Thong.
“The area and these islands will be developed for community-based tourism and there may be pilot projects for community tourism in other areas across the country,” he added.
Minister of Tourism and Sports Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul said the latest tax break of Bt15,000 for hotels or tour packages launched on Wednesday would help encourage many more people to travel by the end of the year.
The Cabinet gave the green light for the tax deduction on tourism expenditure while a similar measure for shopping has not been reviewed yet.
“The measure will help boost tourism in the final quarter of this year. This scheme should help the country achieve projected tourism revenue of Bt2.4 trillion,” Kobkarn said.
