Tourism/ Airline

Chatrudee Theparat

Transport Ministry is urged to talk to airline companies to raise their flight capacity to cope with the rising demand of foreign arrivals to here.

Government spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri said Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha ordered the transport ministry during the yesterday cabinet meeting to take a serious action to negotiate with foreign airlines to increase flight capacity to make the foreign arrivals even easier to flow in.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha

Gen Prayut said Thai economy is gradually rebounding following the tourism industry recovery. The number of foreign visitors is projected to reach 10 million as targeted by coming December 10th. A rising number of flights to here mean the number of arrivals will increase beyond its previous target.

“There were reports that many foreigners have wanted to travel to Thailand but they failed because of unavailable air tickets. Related state agencies should tackle this obstacle, especially increasing the workforce in ground services in order to flow foreign arrivals more smoothly.” Gen Prayut told the ministers.

He said Fitch Ratings (Fitch) maintained Thailand’s sovereign credit rating at BBB+ and stable outlook with a projection of 3.3% Thai economic growth this year and up to 3.8% next year, significantly driven by tourism recovery.

Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said the ministry will propose the cabinet this December 20th to approve the fifth phase of “We Travel Together” scheme to help boost domestic tourism. It is expected to use 5.4 billion baht in budget with 1.5 million room nights in offer.

Mr Phiphat said the ministry will also ask for a 3.3-billion-baht budget to organize activities to boost the tourism industry. If the cabinet approves the plan, the ministry will start the program next month. Next year, the ministry plans to boost the foreign arrivals to 20 million and generate 2.38 trillion baht income, which accounts for 80% of the total tourism revenue in 2019.