Tourism and Sports Minister Weerasak Kowsurat was on the island yesterday (Feb 22) to discuss obstacles faced with the Andaman region’s tourism industry at a meeting held at the Beyond Resort Kata Hotel in Kata.
Joining Mr Weerasak at the meeting were Phuket Governor Norraphat Plodthong, Minister of Tourism and Sports’ Permanent Secretary Pongpanu Svetarundra, President of the Phuket Chamber of Commerce Surachai Chaiwat and others.
Mr Weerasak said, “This meeting aims to involve the private sector in discussing the problems and needs of the tourism industry in the three Andaman provinces of Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi. The most important issue that the government needs to take urgent action over in basic infastructure and facilities.
“Nowadays there are a lot of tourist visiting the Andaman region but the basic infrastructure and facilities are inadequate. This includes roads, mass transit, tourism places, tourists’ safety, garbage and wastewater problems,” Mr Weerasak explained.
“Tourism safety is one of tthe governments main focuses and we need to make sure that CCTV covers tourism places. The quality of tours buses need to be improved and more care is needed to ensure we can prevent marine accidents.
“The government will take care of the problems tourism operators have discussed with us. We are driving Andaman tourism into Thailand 4.0,” Mr Weerasak said.
The minister also highlighted that it is important to involve local residents in basic infrastructure projects.
“Many projects are not finished in time due to various issues and this causes problems to local residents,” he said.