THE TOURISM Council of Thailand (TCT) has urged the newly-formed government to adopt a pro-tourism policy to achieve its target of 30 million foreign visitors and two trillion baht (US$66.9 billion) in revenue by 2015 (TTG Asia e-Daily, August 5).
TCT president Piyaman Tejapaibul said it was important that the government put tourism as one of its priorities given that revenue from the travel industry contributes six per cent of the country’s GDP, equal to the combined income from rice and tapioca exports.
“A pro-tourism policy will help strengthen the country’s tourism competitiveness, and prepare the industry for the regional economic integration under the ASEAN Economic Community starting 2015,” he said.
TCT is planning to ask the Yingluck Shinawatra administration to adopt four tourism priorities: human resources development; rehabilitation of 138 attractions nationwide; infrastructure improvements surrounding and linking tourism sites; and the introduction of transparent tourism policies.
Piyaman predicted that Thailand would reach 18.8-19 million foreign visitors and 700 billion baht in tourism revenue this year, after recording a 24 per cent increase in arrivals in the first six months of 2011.
