Five-year plan to enhance sector’s role

The Tourism and Sports Ministry is rushing to draft a national tourism development plan for 2017-21 with a focus on reform to drive future growth.

Permanent secretary Pongpanu Svetarundra said the plan would boost tourism growth and raise the sector’s GDP contribution to 14% within five years.

In the past 14 years, the Thai tourism industry grew almost three times in terms of foreign tourist numbers, from 10.1 million in 2001 to nearly 30 million in 2015.

Tourism is a powerhouse for driving the Thai economy when exports face a slump.

The government expects to take in 2.41 trillion baht in tourism revenue this year, up by 9% from last year.

“This means tourismrelated agencies must work harder to achieve their targets,” Mr Pongpanu said.

The tourism plan will be ready by September.

The ministry itself will be restructured for better work efficiency, opening 46 new Tourism and Sports offices nationwide, up from 31 now, to cover most of the country.

The working process to promote tourism in each province will accelerate.

Mr Pongpanu wants to merge the Bureau of Policy and Strategy and the Office of Tourism and Sports to form a new department for faster decision-making.

The new department will serve as the secretariat for the National Tourism Development Policy Committee.

Its role will differ from that of the Tourism Department, which oversees tourism statistics, tour guides, homestay and tourism site development.

Mr Pongpanu said he would supervise the new department himself.

To deal with changing tourist behaviour, the National Tourism Development Policy Committee has approved the establishment of a working panel to move forward on the tourism gateway, an online tourism information centre for Thailand.

Half of foreign visitors to Thailand are free independent travellers, Mr Pongpanu said.

The information centre will benefit tourists directly and help to liberalise online travel information and the tour operator business.

At first, tourism information from the Thai Hotels Association and the Tourism Authority of Thailand will be pooled with the help of the Tourism and Sports and ICT ministries.

“In the future, the online tourism information centre will be upgraded to include a marketplace for sellers [tourism operators] and buyers [tourists],” Mr Pongpanu said.