Tourism targets beyond reach

BANGKOK, 22 August 2012: Travel industry leaders say the government’s target to achieve tourism revenue of Bt2 trillion by 2015 will be hard to achieve if there are no concrete plans or sufficient budget to back the effort.

Tourism Council of Thailand’s planning and policy president, Kongkrit Hiranyakit, said he agrees with the decision to facilitate travel by expanding airport capacity and moving low-cost airlines to Don Mueang airport.

“But unfortunately, those who run the industry including Ministry of Tourism and Sports work inefficiently and this invariably leads to the tourism sector falling short of its targets.”

Kongkrit Hiranyakit

Mr Kongkrit said Thailand’s tourism remains healthy thanks to the private sector’s ability to weather crisis after crisis.

“The number of tourist arrivals reached a record 15.3 million in 2010 despite  political tensions,” he noted.

In his view, the government has s set out an aggressive target without formulating a concrete plan to back it up.

He further advised that some policies aimed at boosting the industry do not need a huge investment such as waiving visa fees for tourists from China, potentially a very lucrative market.

“But we still see little progress on the initiative.”

The prime minister has been recruited as a presenter in advertisements welcoming foreign travellers, while the latest projection pegs annual industry revenue at Bt2 trillion by 2015.

But travel industry operators believe that figure is far too optimistic considering this year’s projection is only Bt1.2 trillion.

In the best case scenario,  revenue gains could hit Bt1.8 trillion from an estimated 26 million domestic and foreign tourists, far short of the Bt2 trillion from 30 million travellers set by the government.

Meanwhile, the Association of Domestic Travel’s president, Yutthachai Soonthronrattanavate, said the government has implemented initiatives such as raising the daily minimum wage and launching the first-time car buyer scheme.

“Unfortunately, no scheme has been designed to boost tourism and it is needed urgently if we are to meet targets.”

The government has pinned its hopes on two state agencies – the Tourism Authority of Thailand and the Thailand Convention Exhibition Bureau – to promote tourism and tourism products.

Mr Yutthachai called for effective use of the budget and greater competency  from those involved, particularly Tourism and Sports Minister, Chumpol Silpa-archa, whom he considered lacked a long-term vision and relevant marketing skills.

“If the situation continues, Thailand may miss its goal of being the top ASEAN tourism hub. It could lose ground to emerging rivals like Myanmar, which has many untapped attractions.”

The Ministry of Tourism and Sports says it has mapped out a five-year development plan from 2012 to 2016 for Thailand’s tourism industry. Strategies have been initiated to bring in more revenue with the ultimate goal of pushing up earnings to expand at least 5% annually.

Sourced: ttrweekly