Minister of Tourism and Sports Weerasak Kowsurat said this weekend that Thailand has initiated a number of measures to better balance, manage, and distribute visitor numbers and preserve the quality of tourism destinations in Thailand. In this regard, three measures are being taken.
According to the minister, the top priority is the safety and security of visitors in the aftermath of the July 2018 boat accident in Phuket. In order to rebuild the number of Chinese visitors, he added, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports has advocated fixing the underlying problem and communicating it strongly to the Chinese market. This means first restoring the confidence of the Chinese tourists.
The second priority involves environmental protection. The Thai government and business operators in the tourism sector are working together in three areas including 1) banning smoking on public beaches, 2) disallowing plastic bags or foam containers in national parks, and 3) encouraging tourists to use degradable or reusable containers while travelling in national parks.
The third priority is facilitation and connectivity, especially for secondary cities. The 55 secondary destinations being promoted nationwide have also been classified into different categories, such as those that receive more than six million tourists and those with fewer than six million tourists.
Source: National News Bureau of Thailand