The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), the Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT), now seem to be concerned about the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).

However, the Thailand Government, including the Tourism Authority of Thailand is already years behind the power curve.

Tourism Authority of Thailand Street Vendor

The Thai Government and the Tourism Authority of Thailand have known about this since 2007-2008, and now 3-4 years later have finally gotten with the Tourism Council of Thailand for a “brainstorming session” according to The Nation – Government urged to protect local tour operators under ACE. The Nation writer can’t even spell AEC correctly!

In a roundtable discussion entitled “Thai Tourism Industry and AEC” held by Krungthep Turakij newspaper last week, the Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT) and Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) had a brainstorming session on what would be the best strategy to deal with AEC.

Well, the first thing that the Tourism Authority of Thailand might want to do is get the Thai Government to sign the Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) that the other 9 ASEAN countries signed back in January 2009.

“Even though we still have three years left before< Asean is integrated, the government has no plans to deal with this big change,” Kongkrit Hiranyakit, TCT’s president for policy and planning, said.

Actually, you have a few months before 2012 when countries are allowed to increase their investments in ASEAN countries and since Thailand is not prepared, guess where the money will be invested.

He urged the government to establish a special intelligence unit to provide the private sector with in-depth information about investment and business, as well as set up special trade regulations for each member country.

The key official bodies that could work on this include the Tourism and Sports Ministry, the Board of Investment, Commerce Ministry as well as TAT.

This  should have been done 3 years ago by the Tourism Authority of Thailand and the idea of the AEC is to take down the barriers and allow free trade within the ASEAN Community as well as allow workers easy access to work in member countries.

TCT pointed out that the government should kick off investment negotiations with other Asean members in order to pave the way for the private sector to take their business outside Thailand. Japan, South Korea and Germany were good examples of governments that helped their businesses expand into other countries, it noted.

These guys need to focus on bringing foreign money and tourists to Thailand and not worry about investing in the other ASEAN countries.

Kongkrit said Thailand was already a leader in the tourism sector in the region and should benefit even more once the AEC is implemented.

Thailand may have been a leader, but not anymore thanks to the Tourism Authority of Thailand.  And, Thailand will suffer once AEC is implemented with lost jobs to members of ASEAN that have better English and Chinese language skills.  Thailand lags way behind the other ASEAN countries in preparing for 2015.  Even the staff at the Tourism Authority of Thailand Provincial offices post only in Thai to their Facebook pages.

He also urged the government to prepare strategies in order to protect local operators, particularly SMEs, by crafting investment clusters initially in the region and then holding road shows in other countries to draw investment. This should help protect local business from making controversial transactions.

The Thai Government and the Tourism Authority of Thailand don’t give a crap about small business owners here and only cater to those with big bucks.

“The government should think more about the flow of investment within the region, and not just |focus on tourists. I expect the Thai tourism sector to gain a lot of revenue from new investments,” Kongkrit said.

The Thai Government does everything in its regulatory power to prevent foreigners from investing in Thailand.

The government needs to also set up special measures to protect the local workforce once the tourism sector gets a boost with the AEC agreement. Workers are expected to flock to Thailand to fill new positions created by the expanding tourism sector. Thai workers will also face severe competition in terms of language skills, which is considered one of their key weaknesses.

Too late.  The Thai Government and the Tourism Authority of Thailand should have started proper training 3-4 years ago.  I can already see the Filipinos lining up at the airport in Manila just waiting to come to Thailand.

According to TAT Governor Suraphon Svetasreni, intra-region travel is growing significantly since the West is still facing economic difficulties. To cope with that trend, TAT is preparing strategies and plans to boost tourist arrivals within the region and also work with other organisations.

Funny how the Tourism Authority of Thailand continues to post fictitious tourist arrival numbers saying tourists from America and Europe continue to increase each and every month.  TAT does not know how to market to foreigners and does not play well with others.

One of the plans is to promote a land link with the “last frontier” countries such as Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.

The plan is expected to draw tourists from a third country, who base themselves in Thailand before checking out other destinations in the region. It will also work with airlines to help boost tourism.

Right.  This is already happening.  Tourists fly into Bangkok and immediately catch a flight to Vietnam or hop on other transportation to go to Laos, Cambodia or Burma.  But, I am sure that the Tourism Authority of Thailand counts all of these transient passengers as Thailand Tourist Arrivals.

Furthermore, the authorities will work with educational institutions to groom tourist guides who are fluent in languages such as Russian, Korean and Vietnamese. TAT also plans to highlight the unique Thai way of living by promoting heritage in cities such as Ayutthaya and the Elephant Village in Surin.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand has got it wrong again – they should be learning English and Chinese.

Thailand attracted more than 17 million visitors last year, with more than 50 per cent of them returning. The new government aims to have 30 million tourists per year by 2015.

NO THEY DID NOT.  Even the inflated numbers posted at the Thai Government’s Department of Tourism web site shows that the number of foreign arrivals was just under 16 million. The new government will see that number (and now it is supposed to be by 2014) because the tourism offices will just make up any number to keep their jobs.

“TAT will also promote Thailand and Asean as travel destinations. Thailand should really gain once AEC is implemented,” Suraphon said.

Khun Suraphon is once again blowing smoke.  The Tourism Authority of Thailand will not promote anywhere but Thailand and will only promote Thailand to Thais.  And, Mr Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Thailand will LOSE once AEC is implemented.

A very similar article appeared today in the Bangkok Post – More focus on Asean essential.

Thailand should work with other Asean countries to seek more tourism opportunities in a bid to make the most use of free trade agreements in the region, says the Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT).

As mentioned above, Thailand first needs to sign the MRA.

“As a leader in Asean tourism, we should look at the big picture and push for joint tourism promotion to appeal to the world community. This will help us gain new knowledge, which will benefit tourism development in the future,” said Kongkrit Hiranyakit, president for policy and planning of the TCT.

Too bad the Thai Government doesn’t play well with other countries.  Thailand will only look out for  itself.

Thailand has high potential to be the tourism centre for Asean due to its location and products. It should look not only at how the Asean Economic Community (AEC) will increase tourist arrivals and incomes but also how the scheme can promote Thai investors in other Southeast Asian nations and attract foreign investment.

As said above too, Thailand does everything in its power to discourage foreign investment.

The Tourism and Sports Ministry plans to set up an AEC information centre for tourism operators but the TCT says more needs to be done to help the private sector adjust to the single market that will emerge in 2015.

In which of the 1,820 stadiums that the Tourism and Sports Minister plans to have built with this AEC info center be established?

“They want the government to help gather investment information for each Southeast Asian nation to pave the way for Thai operators to invest in those countries. Government-to-government talks are better than the private sector’s own attempts to invest overseas,” he said.

Why does the Tourism Council of Thailand want to invest in other ASEAN countries?  Does he realize that that is where the tourism dollars will be headed instead of to Thailand?

As well, he said, the government must help Thai operators when they have problems. Because the AEC will involve almost totally free movement of skilled workers and capital, the tourism sector will face new challenges.

The problem that the Tourism Authority of Thailand will have is all of the jobs lost to members of the other ASEAN countries.

“So far, we haven’t seen any concrete plan to serve the market liberalisation,” said Mr Kongkrit. “Within three years, the Thai government must establish an agency that integrates AEC-related work and promote Thailand and Asean; otherwise, we will lose not only competitiveness but also leadership in the region.”

Next year Thailand will see money flow to the other 9 ASEAN countries.  And – THERE IS NO PLAN!  THERE NEVER WAS A PLAN!  And, between now and 2015 – THERE WILL BE NO PLAN!

Last year Thailand received 4.5 million tourists from other Southeast Asian nations, accounting for 28% of all foreign visitors. This showed that travellers from outside Asean saw tourism potential in Thailand more than Asean tourists. When the AEC emerges, they will view Thailand as the centre of tourism and investment in the region.

HUH? 9 countries produced 28% of Thailand’s foreign visitor market.  The other couple hundred countries accounted for 72%.  Poor use of statistical data.  And, Thailand is NOT THE HUB of anything but cheap hookers.

Surapol Svetserani, the governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, said the agency expected more rapid growth of Asean tourist arrivals to Thailand than from Europe and the United States soon, while another key driver would be China.

True.  Economies in USA and Europe suck right now – but – so do the economies of other countries – including ASEAN.

Today, European travellers use Thailand as the centre for their trips to destinations within the region such as Malaysia, Singapore, Burma and Vietnam.

Read the handwriting on the wall.  Tourists are flying THROUGH Thailand to go elsewhere.  Bye bye tourist dollars.

Mr Surapol said most Asean countries still focused on protecting national interests first. However, Asean nations have joined forces to promote tourism together for two years under the Visit Asean Years campaign.

Thailand leads the league in protecting itself and I am sure won’t do a hell of a lot in this Visit ASEAN Years Campaign (first I have heard of this).

“We hope to see a higher degree of work when the AEC emerges,” he said.

You will.  The Tourism Authority of Thailand will see folks from Singapore and Taiwan that can speak English and Chinese taking over managerial positions at major hotels.  The Tourism Authority of Thailand will see English speaking Filipinos taking over service jobs at the same hotels.  The Tourism Authority of Thailand will see cheap labor coming in from Burma, Cambodia, and Laos taking away the jobs that no one wants.

So, too little – too late for the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Tags: AEC asean asean economic community TAT tct thai government tourism authority of thailand tourism councli of thailand