Minister urged to up marketing spend to lure more visitors

The Association of Thai Travel Agents (Atta) wants the new tourism and sports minister to increase funding for marketing, incentives and chartered flights so that Thailand can compete with neighbouring countries and attract at least 35.5 million foreign tourists.

- MOLPASORN SHOOWONG

Atta president Thanapol Cheewarattanaporn said that even though the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s (TAT) subsidies for chartered flights and incentive groups are expected to draw 300,000 foreign visitors this year, the effort is insufficient to stimulate the tourism industry.

He said the association plans to ask Tourism and Sports Minister Artthakorn Sirilatthayakorn to allocate a greater budget to double these numbers, as Deputy Prime Minister Thamanat Prompow recently announced a goal of attracting 2 million Chinese tourists in the last four months of this year.