Focus on quality, not just numbers
Too many visitors ‘will damage industry’
The government and tourism-related organisations are being urged to focus on quality and income rather than arrivals.
A large number of visitors will harm rather than benefit the tourism industry, says the Tourism Department.
“A target of 29 million tourist arrivals as set by the Tourism and Sports Ministry for this year exceeds the capacity of Thailand’s tourism resources,” said director-general Anuphap Kesornsuwan.
“The large amount of visitors will pose problems such as a shortage of guides, coaches and tourist police and frauds against tourists. We are also worried about the quality of services.”
Mr Anuphap said the time was right for Thailand to shift its focus to the quality of travellers and increase the length of their stay from the current average of 9.7 days.
“Tourism-related organisations should think more seriously about increasing the length of stay by at least one day and look for ways to raise average spending of tourists to 50,000 baht per head per trip from 44,620 baht now,” he said.
“If we could do that, Thailand has the potential to gain tourism revenue of 2.3 trillion baht this year, which is higher than the 2.2 trillion projected by the government, and revenue of 2.5-2.6 trillion in 2016.”
The projection of 2.3 trillion baht comprises 880 billion from domestic tourism and 1.42 trillion from the overseas market.
Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) governor Thawatchai Arunyik agreed with the proposal to boost tourism revenue but said the number of arrivals as set by the government was not a concern.
“Tourism resources have nothing to worry about,” he said. “Existing resources are well capable of serving 29 million visitors.”
He urged the government and authorities to promote new destinations among foreign tourists to relieve congestion at popular places such as Phuket, Pattaya, Chiang Mai, Bangkok and Krabi.
Promotion campaigns should also be beefed up to draw tourists in low season.
“The question about Thailand’s tourism capacity remains debatable. It needs a deeper study,” said Mr Thawatchai.
Last year foreign tourist arrivals to Thailand totalled 24.77 million, down 6.66% from 2013. The tourism industry had revenue of about 1.84 trillion baht, with 1.14 trillion from the overseas market and 700 billion from domestic tourists.
The TAT aims this year to increase foreign arrivals to 28 million and to raise tourism revenue 16% to 2.2 trillion baht under the “2015 Discover Thainess” campaign.
Mr Anuphap said the TAT’s ambitious plan to increase the revenue contribution from the domestic market to 50% of the total was deemed difficult. Thailand should convince Thais who prefer travelling abroad to travel within the country.
Thai outbound tourists spend about 300 billion baht a year.
Last month the government assigned the Tourism and Sports Ministry to push for a serious recovery in tourism this year and to develop tourism quality.
The ministry is working on its 2020 tourism strategy, which will be completed in July. It will be a concrete plan to upgrade and sustain tourism over the long term.