Tourism ministry asks for Bt1 billion

BANGKOK, 2 June 2014: National Council for Peace and Order will consider a Ministry of Tourism and Sports request to spend an additional Bt1 billion on project to revive tourism.
No details were given on what projects would require a Bt1 billion budget.
The ministry will need to present a detailed plan of how it intends to spend the budget to revive tourism that is expected to suffer massive declines in revenue over the third quarter.
The ministry argued that if it was granted a Bt1 billion budget, tourism would generate Bt2 trillion this year and Bt2.2 trillion next year. The figures are theoretical as tourism relies on estimates based on exit interviews of passengers at airports to calculate a figure that the average tourist may spend per day.
The budget comments were made during a meeting, last week, with the Navy chief Adm Narong Pipattanasai, who supervises the Ministry of Tourism and Sports and permanent secretary, Suwat Sidthilaw.
During the meeting, the NCPO indicated it might consider rescinding or reducing the curfew at beach resorts to boost tourism confidence, but gave no indication when a decision would be made.
During the discussion the Ministry of Tourism and Sports indicated a revenue target of Bt2 trillion was still possible. However, tourism industry executives are very sceptical of estimates that are based on an average earning per tourist, that are often inflated by the visitor during the exit interview.
Tourism revenue estimates are based on what the average tourist would spend while in the country, but does not take into consideration that a big proportion of tourists are budget travellers and their spending habits are considerably lower than a tourist staying in a three to four-star hotel.
Also, the ministry noted that tourist arrivals could fall to around 26 to 27 million, down from 28 million forecast for 2014 before the political crisis.
In 2013, Thailand recorded 26.5 million visits, an increase of 18.76 even though city protests against the government had been active since early October. In real terms, Thailand should close the year ahead of 2013, but with a much smaller growth rate.
The target for 2014 was set at 28.1 million visits according to Ministry of Tourism and Sports forecasts.
The ministry hopes to get a fund of Bt845 million to start its tourist confidence restoration plan and intends to ask for Bt200 million to renew an insurance fund for foreign tourists who suffer injuries caused by criminal or civil protest activity. The compensation is around US$10,000 per person, but very little is known about the scheme or whether claims have been made.
Reports do not identify the insurance company, conditions and how tourists who suffers an attack and needs to make a claim can do so.
Also the ministry has been silent on the number of tourists assisted by the insurance scheme and whether it has proved worthwhile.
Ministry officials tend to throw money at a crisis , but whether budget actually delivers a result that is favourable in the long-term and assists tourism goals is doubtful. Ministry officials rarely update to the travel industry on how they spend budgets they receive and the restoration plan details have not been outlined in announcements.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand plans to organise familiarisation trips to Thailand for more than 1,000 journalists, worldwide, although the travel industry might challenge that strategy or ask for clear details on the areas represented by the media and the qualifications of the journalists, or whether they are frequent beneficiaries of earlier programmes.

Sourced: ttrweekly