The Minister was speaking at the 12th ATTA/THA Annual General Meeting late last week.
“You need to pressure the government for support and budget approval for tourism, but it must be a joint effort,” he told members of the country’s top tourism associations.
“You have to tighten cooperation at association level so you can discuss together what you need and then present an accurate plan to the government,” he explained.
“The private sector should brainstorm ideas, identify what it wants and seriously urge the government to support it, with an investment budget based on facts.”
To reach the government’s tourism revenue target of B2 trillion by 2015, Mr Kittirat said the country needed more new destinations to reduce overcrowding at popular destinations.
“Tourists pack into Bangkok, Phuket, Pattaya, Samui, Hua Hin and Chiang Mai. Therefore we need to find new destinations, tourism products and programmes.”
The country’s tourism industry is woefully short on human resources, language skills and security measures, which would all need to be improved to meet the increase in tourism, the deputy PM warned.