Tourism / Traisuree Taisaranakul

MICE
Report: Chatrudee Theparat

Local activities are told to be held more to boost Thai tourism

Related tourism organizations are told to conduct activities to boost local tourism and grow the country’s economy.

The idea is sparked after three Thai festivals won prizes from the IFEA Convention, Expo & Retreat and Haas &Wilkerson Pinnacle Award 2022. In addition, Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) plans to cash in on the three events by using as a model to organize festivals in each region to energize local tourism.

Deputy government spokeswoman Traisuree Taisaranakul

Deputy government spokeswoman Traisuree Taisaranakul said Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha assigned related tourism agencies to use tourism as a tool to boost income in local areas and organize international activities with high standard to draw both domestic and foreign tourists. Tourism is expected to be one of the main contributor to drive Thai economy this year and next year.

She said TCEB would organize and upgrade some activities nationwide, which are fit to the cultural diversity of each local area. This follows a success of local events recently won international awards from overseas. The agency submitted three festivals to contest in IFEA and Haas & Wilkerson Pinnacle Award 2022, organized by the IFEA and attract 73 participants worldwide.

IFEA is a not-profit association for producers, suppliers and managers of festivals and events, ranging from small county to municipal events to large-scale parades that can have a large number of attendants.

Bangkok Music City 2021 won Best Virtual Festival/Event”, Ubon Ratchathani Candle Festival 2019 won “Best Parade and Loei Art Fes, Loei province 2021 won “Best Community Outreach Program”. The contest was organized in the annual meeting of the 65th IFEA Convention, Expo & Retreat in Texas.

Ms Traisuree said TCEB reported to the government that agency would use those festivals as a model to organize international activities with high standard in other areas in a bid to attract foreign visitors.

As of September 30, Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) reported there were 6 million foreign arrivals to Thailand and 157 million trips of Thai visitors.

Also, Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand reported the number of foreign arrivals is on the rise too. Currently, there are 573,383 arrivals per week during this October to March 2023, up 74.18% when compared to the same period last year of 329,288.

The biggest number of arrivals is from Asia-Pacific with 468,948 per week, an increase of 82.55%, followed by 56,354 from Europe, up about 57.77%, and 44,900 from Middle East, up about 30.14%, and 2,414 from Africa, an increase of about 14.95%.