There is an article in The Nation today, Govt want 500 home-stays within five years, that is ridiculous and shows again that the Thai Government, the Tourism Authority of Thailand, and the Tourism Development Department, don’t have a clue.

The article also shows that the Tourism Authority of Thailand is looking to fleece newbies.

Tourism Authority of Thailand Cows

So, here we go with another “brilliant” plan coming from the Tourism Authority of Thailand Tourism Development Department.

The Tourism Development Department targets 500 home-stay providers within five years as part of its effort to create new sub-markets.

“This is one of the plans to improve tourism competitiveness when the country opens its doors in 2015 to the Asean Economic Community,” Suphon Sriphan, the new director-general of the department, said yesterday.

This will do absolutely nothing to “improve tourism competitiveness” among the AEC in 2015.  If anything, it will add to the growing number of hotels/resorts/guesthouses that are completely unregulated and are built with absolutely no concern for the environment or the future.

At least 186 home-stay lodgings have been counted throughout the country, many of them operating illegally. However, the department intends to upgrade their standards to gain more customers as well as promote the new segment.

They must have only counted the home-stay lodgings in Chiang Khan – more like 10′s of 1,000′s throughout the Kingdom and I would venture that most are illegal.  But, no mention of doing anything to the already illegal places and no mention of enforcing the law in the present or the future.

Vietnam will soon become a major rival in this segment as the government there is promoting and encouraging people to build home-stays all over the country, Suphon said.

Not soon – already.  Vietnam is doing things right and will continue to woo more travelers away from Thailand.

The private sector has urged officials to add more annual events, such as Loy Krathong, in provinces after the floods subside to help restore domestic tourism in the short term.

I don’t get this.  Loy Krathong is celebrated country-wide and, granted, in some places in Thailand the celebrations are on a larger scale.  But, go anywhere in Thailand where there is a river, sea, gulf, pond, or lake and there will be a Loy Krathong celebration going on.  Maybe they want the Tourism Authority of Thailand to create another “World’s Largest Outdoor Water Fight” like they do during Songkran.  Local Thais, for the most part, stay in their home town areas during Loy Krathong.

The Federation of Thai Tourism Associations has called on the government to organise the festival in Sing Buri, Angthong and Lop Buri, which have been heavily inundated, besides the yearly celebrations in Sukhothai, Tak and Ayutthaya.

Maybe they should wait to see if the two-meter high flood waters have receded by November 10th first.

This year, Loy Krathong is scheduled to take place nationwide on November 10. The federation said this event would help restore tourism especially in hard-hit flood areas.

The federation is dreaming.  The hard hit flood areas will have some major cleaning up to do first once the waters recede.

To keep international tourists coming to the country, the Thai-Japan Tourism Business Association has appealed to the government to focus on key markets including Japan, as many tourists should return to Thailand after the partial recovery from the natural crisis there.

The Thai Government, in its infinite wisdom, did what they deemed their master plan to get Japanese tourists to return to Thailand – they allow them to come for up to 60 days with no visa requirement.  Considering most Japanese come here for less than one week, you can see how much the Tourism Authority of Thailand and the Thai Government really care about foreign tourists.

Now, here is where the Tourism Authority of Thailand shows its true colors:

Sansern Ngaorangsi, deputy governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, said TAT would work on attracting first-timers to Thailand as regular customers might suspend their travel plans because of the flooding.

Translated as – “regular customers” – meaning those who are repeat visitors – are smart enough to read and watch the news and use the Internet to get up-to-date information regrading the latest Tropical Depression – Nalgae – and the current status of the floods and the dams that are about to burst.

The Deputy Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand is looking for fresh blood, new fish, wide-eyed newbies, who may not be so clued in to what is going on in Thailand. Good luck in finding them.

Thailand’s Government and the Tourism Authority of Thailand still have yet to figure out that people outside of Thailand have all kinds of ways to find out what is really going on inside of Thailand.  There are forums with up-to-date info posted all the time.  You can even ask questions and get almost immediate answers.

Facebook and Twitter are sources for on-the-spot and totally current information – but the Tourism Authority of Thailand has yet to figure out how to use them properly.

Here is a post from yesterday from the Tourism Authority of Thailand Amazing Thailand Facebook Page:

A screenshot of the Yahoo weather for the next few days with the comment “Rainy day in Bangkok, Thailand“.  Brilliant!  Don’t tell the world about the floods.  Don’t tell anyone where to avoid because waters are 1-2 meters deep.  Don’t tell anyone where it still dry and where tourists can still have a good time.  Don’t mention anything about the Tropical Depression Nalgae that is due to hit Thailand tomorrow. Oh, and don’t respond to any of the 27 comments.

Just goes to show that the Tourism Authority of Thailand has no idea what Social Media outlets like Facebook or Twitter can be used for and the article shows the disdain for foreigners that the Tourism Authority of Thailand has.

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Tags: bangkok facebook floods social media TAT tourism authority of thailand tourists