BANGKOK, 3 October 2018: Thailand’s Minister of Tourism and Sports, Wirasak Kowsoorad, has urged officials to be mindful of their actions, as the country attempts to regain trust with Chinese tourists, the National News Bureau of Thailand reported Tuesday.
He was addressing criticism of Thailand’s Visa-On-Arrival process, that accused officials of demanding up to THB2,000 as a “special fee” or “tip” to expedite the process for Chinese tourists.
He said he is preparing to meet with officials from government agencies and ministries to help resolve issues that were damaging the country’s tourism image in the China travel market.
Referring to the recent altercation between an airport security guard and a Chinese tourist at Don Mueang International Airport, he noted that the airport has now suspended the guard and a full progress report on the incident has been forwarded to Chinese officials.
Wirasak implored officials to be mindful of their actions, as Thailand seeks to win back Chinese visitors following three months of declines in tourist arrivals from China following a fatal boat accident in Phuket in early July.
(Source: NBT)
Why not raise every tourism issue, both negative and positive, in the cabinet meeting and let the cabinet approve a solution? This would ensure each responsible ministry would then take the issue on board and cooperate with the other ministries to secure success to benefit tourism. We all know that alone the Ministry of Tourism and Sports would not be able to recruit support from other ministries to achieve a high level of success. A Cabinet resolution would provide the impetus to ensure other ministries and public organizations felt compelled to made a contribution to achieve the right outcome. The nature of tourism work requires intensive integration.