Bangkok –
Political opposition party Pheu Thai blamed the current Thai government for neglecting tourism experts’ warnings about domestic tourism failure due to the Russia-Ukraine war.
Jakkaphon Tangsuthitham, Deputy Secretary-General of the Pheu Thai Party, said yesterday, March 30th, that the party’s economic working group had previously warned Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O’Cha to pay close attention and accelerate the revival of Thailand’s tourism but, according to his statement, the Prime Minister did not come up with any solutions, causing the Thai tourism situation to remain in what they called a coma as the party had predicted.
Pheu Thai MPs from Chiang Mai continued that many tourism experts from the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) had also warned General Prayut and the government that the Thai economy was still in crisis and showing no sign of recovery at all. However, Energy Minister Supattanapong Punmeechaow instead denied the statement and claimed that the domestic economy in another 100 countries were also in the same state or worse.
Jakkaphon added: “The 10 measures the government announced last week were not helpful and could not solve the whole picture of the economic crisis and people working in the tourism business. Accelerating and promoting tourism would be the best and fastest way to solve economic problems and would also increase money circulation to local people at all levels.”
“Therefore, I’d like the Prime Minister to look at the reality and do something about the RT-PCR-test system which many countries have already canceled in order to build convenience for international tourists. Also, the so-called land entry fee of 300 baht should be scratched out. We already have very few tourists coming in and the fee would make it even worse. We had to come up with marketing policies and promotions to attract as many tourists into the country as possible – not just sitting around waiting for them to come in. It would not work that way anymore.” Jakkaphon explained.
“Test and Go and Thailand Pass must go, and not in many more months but immediately. Thailand must reopen fully to tourism as many other countries have done.” Jakkaphon concluded, adding his voice to those of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, Federation of Thai Industries, Thailand Tourism Council, and nearly every business and tourism association.
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