Government’s Policy on Tourism Aimed at Encouraging Thais and Foreigners to Travel More in Thailand

(23/08/2011)

The Government has set a policy to encourage both Thais and foreigners to travel more in Thailand in order to double the country’s tourism earnings in the next five years. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism and Sports, Mr. Chumpol Silapa-archa, said that a target had been set to increase Thailand’s tourism income to more than one trillion baht by 2016, compared to 590 billion earned in 2010. He said that proactive tourism campaigns would be launched in the first year of the Yingluck Shinawatra administration and the campaigns would continue until the end of the Government’s term in office. The period between 2011 and 2012 will be designated the “Miracle Thailand’ year. As part of the Miracle Thailand campaign, various programs will be arranged in celebration of His Majesty the King’s 84th birthday anniversary on 5 December 2011 and Her Majesty the Queen’s 80th birthday anniversary on 12 August 2012. Both events will feature many activities reflecting Thai culture, including a bazaar of products from the Foundation for the Promotion of Supplementary Occupations and Related Techniques, popularly known as SUPPORT, founded by Her Majesty the Queen. Meanwhile, Permanent Secretary for Tourism and Sports Sombat Kuruphan said that Thailand is expected to welcome 18.5-19.5 million international visitors by the end of this year. The top ten foreign tourists visiting Thailand come from Malaysia, China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Russia, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States, and ASEAN countries. According to Mr. Sombat, during the past few years, around 14.5-16 million tourists visited Thailand annually. The Ministry of Tourism and Sports expects that the number of international visitors will increase to 30 million in the next five years. He said that, from 2011 to 2016, Thailand has proposed to host more than 300 sports events. Out of this number, 253 are at the international and regional levels. For instance, Thailand will serve as host of such major international events as the Futsal World Cup 2012 in Bangkok and the Asian Beach Games 2014 in Phuket. A great number of both athletes and tourists will visit Thailand for these events. In order to offer assistance to tourists, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports had joined hands with several relevant agencies in opening the Tourist Service Center at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Samut Prakan province. The center is equipped with 14 officials responsible for providing services to tourists around the clock and in languages, namely Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, English, Italian, French, Spanish, German, and Thai. For more information, please call 0-2134-4077. The e-mail address of the center is tsc@mots.go.th, or touristcenter13@gmail.com.