Science and technology to be applied to Thai tourism development

BANGKOK, June 20 (TNA) - The Thai Ministry of Tourism and Sports and the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) have cooperated on applying science, technology and innovations to the promotion and the sustainable development of the domestic tourism. An agreement on the cooperation was signed between Permanent Secretary for Tourism and Sports Chote Trachu and NSTDA President Narong Sirilertworakul in Bangkok on June 19. Under the agreement, set during 2018-2021, NSTDA will support the Thai Ministry of Tourism and Sports in working out the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), in which the environmental cost will be included. Besides, NSTDA will work out a research framework for bio-resources and the sustainable development for three major categories of Thai tourist attractions, including highlands, sea resorts and historic and cultural sites, aimed to enhance their competitiveness in terms of their practical catering for international visitors. The NSTDA president told journalists that eight major Thai tourism zones have been included in a pilot project of his agency's agreed cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, including those of the northern Lanna, the Mekong Basin, the Chao Phraya Basin, the eastern coast and the southern Andaman coast. According to the NSTDA president, his agency has learned on a previous initiative on working out the "green gross domestic product (Green GDP) for major Thai tourist provinces, under which resort Phuket Province in the Thai South was set as the pilot project, to see whether the country's GDP in the tourism sector and the utilization of local natural resources, as well as environmental impacts were balanced towards the sustainable tourism management in the long run and will, thus, apply the initiative to the joint work with the Ministry of Tourism and Sports. The NSTDA president said he anticipates that the initial outcome of the agreed cooperation between his agency and the Ministry of Tourism and Sports should be seen and used for tailoring Thailand's sustainable tourism development master plan within the next 12 months. (TNA)