At a meeting at Provincial Hall yesterday (Feb 12), Gen Thanasak softened the blow by saying that he admired all the work that officials have done in the Andaman cluster, which comprises the provinces of Phuket, Phang Nga, Krabi, Trang and Satun – but not Ranong.
“These areas have so many activities for tourists to do, from beaches and sport to cultural activities,” he said.
However, Gen Thanasak added, “Thailand has laid out a 20-year strategy to develop tourism by focusing on tourist safety, national stability and sustainable tourism, and to push the Andaman coast to become the tourism centre of the region … To be a place that people all over the world want to visit and we want to expand and connect to other new tourism destinations throughout the region, and Asean.”
“This year, we are expect to generate income from tourism B2.3 billion by keeping the existing tourist groups, which comprises two main groups: less-spending tourists and quality tourists,” he said.
“Even though most tourists that visit the Andaman are categorised as ‘quality’, we still need to maximise our efforts to provide ‘quality’ tourism.
“Our weakest point is manpower,” Gen Thanasak added. “We may need to add more manpower to direct, assist and inform tourists when they visit these areas.”
Tourism Minister Kobkarn noted, “We are not only thinking of ideas, but following through with action to bring maximum quality and most importantly maintain that quality.
“Security for tourists is our priority, and that includes making sure every department enforces rules and regulations. Providing the best tourism service and working together to attract quality tourists to the area is the best strategy,” she said.
“We also need to generate income for local people, such as by promoting local and agriculture tourism within Andaman cluster,” she added.
Minister Kobkarn pointed out that the Andaman cluster attracted 9.1 million Thai tourists in 2015, an increase of 4.33 % on the previous year, and 15.25 million foreign tourists, a 7.14% increase year-on-year.
“We generated income B413.34 billion. That is a 10.22% increase thanks to the rising numbers of Chinese tourists,” she said.
Minister Kobkarn added that Thailand’s main source markets for tourists in 2015 were, respectively, China, Russia, Australia, Germany and the United Kingdom.