Bhumjaithai Party’s economic policy

Chatrudee Theparat

General election

Bhumjaithai Party’s economic policy aims to promote the tourism industry to drive Thai economy over the next five years.

If the party is an opportunity to join the next government, the party will support the government to use Bhumjaithai’s tourism policy to drive the Thai economy. One of priorities is to boost the number of foreign arrivals to 70-80 million and to generate six trillion baht income by 2027.

Under the policy, it would allocate 100 million baht to each province to organize events and sport activity. The budget would be from the Tourism Promotion Fund. Currently, the fund agency has more than 10 billion baht in estimate, thanks to the collection of 300 baht tourism fee from 40 million international visitors in 2024.

The party’s deputy leader and Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said the amount of about 8,000 billion baht is expected to allocate 100 million baht annually to each province to promote their tourism spots and organize events both sports and tourism to attract visitors.

About 50,000 baht budget for each community from the government budget in 2024 would be allocated to support community tourism to promote local economy with generating more income. Previously, there were 142 communities under the project.

In addition, the party would propose to develop the land bridge between Chumphon and Ranong worth 1.7 trillion baht which include deep sea port, pipeline and highway road to link. However, factory construction would not be under this project because it is the tourism area.

He believed that the land bridge project could create a new tourism marine route which can save time five hours compared to using Malacca Strait.

The policy would take five years to implement. He is confident that the number of foreign arrivals would reach 70-80 million and generate 6 trillion baht revenue, helping to strengthen income earning among locals. Also, the tourism policies would be be in line with the bio-green-circular (BCG) economy to achieve Thailand’s ambition on gas emission reduction.

He said measures would also be launched to increase the number of foreign tourists to 80 million by 2027, leading to create 10 million jobs. Other policies include the right to buy an electric monocycle for 6,000 baht with 100 baht monthly installment, free solar cells for rooftops to help lower electricity prices by 450 baht per month, contract farming measures, lower electric train fares and free chemotherapy and kidney dialysis, and different moratorium packages of debt for three years.