TCT to meet NCPO leaders

12 Jul 2014  2095 | World Travel News

The Tourism Council of Thailand will propose key strategies to boost tourism when it meets National Council for Peace and Order leaders next Wednesday.
TCT vice president, Thanate Vorasaran, said the council will present three strategies to the NCPO including a recommendation to waive visa fees for tourists from China and Taiwan. They would still have to obtain a visa from the nearest Thai embassy prior to travel to Thailand.
“We will ask the council to waive visa fees for tourists from mainland China and Taiwan ahead of the coming high season…these tourists are among the biggest spenders… Chnesee tourists spent Bt43,000 per trip, which is very close to the level of spending by Japanese tourists,” Mr Thanate explained.
The current visa fee is THB1,000 for Chinese and Taiwanese tourists.
TCT will also suggest seven provinces that attracted more than 1 million international visitors last year be declared special administration zones. The seven provinces in the proposal are Phuket, Surat Thani, Songkhla, Chon Buri, Chiang Mai, Prachuap Khiri Khan, and Bangkok.
Finally it wants a tourism development committee at national level to be reintroduced. It was suspended by the Yingluck Shinawatra government in 2013.
The proposal to form yet another committee to supervise tourism comes as a surprise considering TCT has the legal authority to speak on behalf of the tourism industry and recommend policies and project for the government to consider.
There is considerable duplication and tourism is already weighed down with well-meaning committees led by bureaucrats who have never actually worked in the tourism industry, but they see themselves as experts.
But the council believes the committee would help to integrate policies and identify projects that would benefit tourism.
TCT said the committee would resolve issues of tourism budget management, low confidence and illegal businesses like taxis and jet ski scams. All of these subjects are supposed to be dealt with by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.

Sourced: ttrweekly

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