THAILAND’S Ministry of Tourism and Sports (MoTS) recently received Cabinet approval for its 6.65 billion baht (US$218 million) tourism development plan from 2012 to 2014 (TTG Asia e-Daily, March 1), with beach resorts getting the biggest allocation.
The tourism plan covers 385 tourism development projects in eight tourism clusters for the upgrade of basic infrastructure, landscaping and convenience at tourist sites nationwide, according to MoTS permanent secretary Sombat Kuruphan.
Beach resorts will receive 3.98 billion baht to fund 141 projects in 20 provinces. This includes the active beach cluster (770 million baht for 44 projects in four eastern coastal provinces), the royal coast cluster (859 million baht for 24 projects in four upper southern provinces) and the two-sea cluster (2.35 billion baht for 73 projects in 12 lower southern provinces).
The Lanna civilisation cluster will get 983 million baht for 46 projects in seven northern provinces, while the E-sarn civilisation cluster has been allocated 230 million baht for 26 projects covering six north-eastern provinces.
The UNESCO World Heritage Sites cluster will receive 475 million baht for 57 projects in eight provinces, while 612 million baht will be pumped into 60 Mekong River lifestyle projects in six provinces. In the central plains cluster, 454 million baht will be spent on 55 projects in 14 provinces.
