With a new election on July 3rd, 2011, there was a small glimmer of hope that the Minister of Tourism and Sports (MOTS) would be replaced.

Unfortunately for Thailand, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra chose to keep the same old man, Chumpol Silpa-archa, as the Minister of Tourism and Sports.

Chumpol Silpa-archa Minister of Tourism and Sports

There are a couple of problems for Thailand’s Tourism industry and having Khun Chumpol Silpa-archa as the Minister of Tourism and Sports again is one of the biggest.

This guy is 71 years old and should have retired years ago.  The tourism industry needs some young blood to get it out of its doldrums and to quit marketing only to local Thais.

The Yingluck administration has already said that they want tourism to double by the year 2020 (and some even say in the next 5 years) going from 15 million tourist arrivals to 30 million.  This would actually be a triple since the real number of tourist arrivals is more like 10 million according to MasterCard.  I tend to believe MasterCard more than the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

The other big problem is that this ministerial post covers two very big areas – tourism and sports.  And from an article in today’s Bangkok Post, Chumpol returns, commits to sports development, you can see where old man Chumpol is focusing his efforts.

Chumpol Silpa-archa says he is happy that he has been re-appointed tourism and sports minister.

Of course he is happy.  He gets another paycheck for at least 4 more years and possibly 8.

Chumpol said yesterday he could continue his work at the ministry and initiate new projects immediately as he needs no time to study the job.

Not a whole lot to study at his level – just tell people what to do.

The 71-year-old, who is also a deputy prime minister in the Yingluck Shinawatra cabinet, said among his projects were to build 16 provincial stadiums, 690 district stadiums and 1,114 tambon stadiums.

He wears many hats.  I would think that being a deputy prime minister would consume most of his energy.  And, you can see that he plans to build a lot of stadiums.  Well, he plans to have a lot of stadiums built.  I don’t think the 71-year old is actually going to build them single-handedly.

Another important task is to look after athletes who compete for their country, he said.

This should actually read – look after athletes who compete for Thailand.

Thailand will take part in the SEA Games in Indonesia this year and the Olympics in London next year. The country will host the Futsal World Cup next year.

No mention of athletes who come to Thailand to compete and how he can take care of them or attract more to the kingdom.

Pimol Srivikorn, president of the Taekwondo Association of Thailand, said that the most important tasks for Chumpol are to solve conflict in several sports associations.

Ah, the kiddies are fighting amongst each other and they want Big Daddy to fix it.

The Amateur Boxing Association of Thailand plans to sue the Sports Authority of Thailand for revoking its membership, the Shooting Association of Thailand still does not have a legitimate boss and the new administration of the Basketball Association of Thailand has not yet been recognised by the International Basketball Federation due to internal conflict.

I really don’t think that old man Chumpol will have the time to resolve all these issues with all the stadiums he has to build.  Remember, this is all about image and photo opportunities and looking good in the communities that elected you.

Pimol also urged Chumpol to help bring more international sporting events to Thailand.

This makes sense but I doubt that it will happen since the Tourism Authority of Thailand does not know how to market to foreigners and foreigners are turning away from Thailand and going to Laos, Indonesia, and Vietnam instead of coming to Thailand.

Other members of the cabinet who have experience in sports include Defence Minister Gen Yutthasak Sasiprapa, who is president of the National Olympic Committee of Thailand, and Commerce Minister Kittirat Na-Ranong, who is a former manager of the national football team.

Does this make any sense to anyone?  The Defense Minister is in charge of the National Olympic Committee and the Commerce Minister who use to manage a kickball team.  Talk about a patron system.  Defense should be in charge of the military and leave the Olympics alone and Commerce should be more concerned about money and not about football.

Nowhere in the article did the Minister of Tourism and Sports mention the word TOURISM.  I guess he will be too busy building stadiums and will leave the doubling/tripling of tourist arrivals up to the inept Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Tags: chumpol minister of tourism and sports mots TAT tourism authority of thailand yingluck