Saturday 7 January 2012

Thailand to Join Other ASEAN Partners in Boosting Tourism with Dialogue Partners


Thailand will join other ASEAN partners in signing two important documents to promote tourism cooperation with ASEAN dialogue partners.

The Cabinet, during its meeting on December 27, approved a proposal by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports to sign the two documents during the upcoming 15th Meeting of ASEAN Tourism Ministers and related meetings, to be held in Manado, Indonesia, between 8 and 12 January 2012.

The first document, the ASEAN-India Tourism Cooperation Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), seeks to facilitate travel between ASEAN and India, as well as to foster cooperation in human resource development and information exchange in this field. The objectives are to develop sustainable tourism and connect the ASEAN and Indian markets.

The second document is an MOU between national tourism organizations of ASEAN members and those of the People’s Republic of China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea. It will promote quality tourism and tourism cooperation between ASEAN countries and the respective dialogue partners.

The Cabinet was told that Thailand would benefit from the signing of these two documents, as it is likely to welcome more tourist arrivals. India, China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea are the country’s major tourism markets. Each year Thailand joins the ASEAN Tourism Forum, which is a cooperative regional effort to promote the ASEAN region as one tourist destination.

The Fiscal Policy Office previously estimated that at least 15.6 million foreign tourists would visit the country in 2011, an increase of more than 10 percent from 2010. Tourism business operators expect that in 2012 Thailand will host 19 million international visitors, bringing in at least 800 billion baht in tourism income.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism and Sports Chumpol Silapa-archa said that he would propose a package of measures to stimulate the tourism sector for Cabinet approval, so that Thailand’s tourism earnings would increase to 700 billion baht in 2012 and two trillion baht in the next five years.

According to a survey conducted by the Bangkok University Research Center, foreign tourists enjoy traveling to Thailand for several reasons. They found that Thai food, hospitality, historical sites, shopping centers, and culture and folk arts were the top five reasons that attracted visitors. As for New Year celebrations in Thailand, most of the surveyed tourists named Chiang Mai in the North as their destination, followed by Samui Island in Surat Thani, and Bangkok.

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