Bangkok: Ministry proposes tourism master plan

The Tourism and Sports Ministry will push forward the tourism master plan after the Office of the Prime Minister approves it. About 20% of tourism projects in the master plan are ready to start once the plan is approved next Wednesday. It is expected the master plan will be a key factor driving tourism revenue to the government's target of 2 trillion baht by 2015. There are six action plans under the supervision and cooperation of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB), the Tourism Department, the ministry's permanent secretary and the Royal Thai Air Force. Suwat Sidthilaw, the ministry's permanent secretary, said the action plans will cover marketing campaigns, tourism attractions, logistics, facilities, and products and services. The TAT and TCEB have proposed 28 projects to help the tourism industry such as the Five Region Thai Travel Promotion and the Chao Nai Pai Tiew project. Supol Sripan, the Tourism Department's director-general, said it will instal tourism signs and routes around tourism attractions. The department assigned its provincial offices to survey tourism sites that have insufficient signage and expects to install them next January. The department is also studying world-class theme parks at the request of the private sector, with the goal of building new man-made tourism sites to attract tourists. Mr Suwat said the tourism development plan is under way for 29 sites in 18 provinces and is scheduled to be finished tomorrow. Yesterday, the TCEB announced its plan to aid the Thai Mice (meeting, incentive, convention and exhibition) industry's leadership in Asia. Based on the continuing success of its Green Meeting initiative in Asia, Thailand aims to extend the approach with Sustainability Thailand as the next strategic goal. The TCEB introduced the new ISO 20121 standard (event sustainability management system), which recently made its global debut at the London 2012 Olympics. Thailand will be the second country to implement the standard for the Mice industry after the UK. From bangkokpost