Free trade strategies

Ministry of Tourism and Sports’ Department of Tourism presented a draft, late last week on the ASEAN Economic Community 2015 (2012 to 2017) Tourism Development Plan.

The presentation was made at a 23 December briefing, Free Trade Agreements in Tourism and Travel-Related Services, led by Tourism Department general director Supol Sripan.

“ It is imperative that Thailand’s tourism personnel prepare for substantial changes in the next three years,” he told delegates.

The department outlined a partnership with Thammasat University’s College of Innovation to present a strategic plan to develop tourism for the free trade era.

There are five strategies in its five-year draft plan.

•Establish a Tourism Knowledge Management Centre to be a home of AEC research, related project summaries, ASEAN’s tourism investment law and tax information and tourism trends and updates through a website, e-letter, email, social media as well as industry events;

•Develop SMEs competitiveness to encourage entrepreneurs’ service innovation and creativity, international service delivery, e-marketing as well as give technical consultancy, integrate with soft-loan sources and expand the tour agencies network both national and international;

•Improve tourism personnel abilities to build skilled labour through the department’s training package as well as adjust attitudes so they can adapt to working conditions within the ASEAN region;

•Tighten tourism department personnel efficiency to work closely with other government agencies to solve tourism problems particularly tour guide laws, illegal agency and labour, deteriorated attractions and adjust a tourism curriculum to meet private sector needs;

•Integrate tourist attractions plan and management innovations to reach sustainability with the government, private sector and educational institutions developing products, activities and services based on creativity as well as organise a pilot destination based on carrying capacity, balance using environmental resources and fair tax collecting.

The department did not prioritise the list during the session or identify specific and doable items. Critics say there are just too many strategy items for the department to tackle and that it should slim them down to just a few simple projects that it could achieve over the next three years to avoid further criticism from the private sector.

Source - ttrweekly