According to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, only 20 per cent of foreign tourists last year were from “high-end” markets. She urged the TAT to introduce measures to increase the proportion to 30 per cent.
She also asked the TAT to introduce measures to persuade the average tourist to stay in Thailand six days rather than the current five, and to keep the total number of tourists to an appropriate level in order to prevent deterioration of environmental resources and overcrowding at Suvarnabhumi international airport.
Last year, Thailand saw a record number 22.4 million tourists arriving. The number makes the country the 11th most popular destination in the world, and the third in Asia, behind China and Malaysia.
However, the average spending of a tourist is only B3,000 a day.
It has long been a criticism of the TAT that its sole criterion for success is the number of tourists that come into Thailand.
That attitude was reinforced at the end of 2004, when tourist numbers hit 12 million and then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra set a goal of 20 million tourists by 2008.
Now it appears his sister has been advised that sheer numbers may not be an unmitigated blessing for the country.
– NNT/Phuket News