Government introduces "Miracle Thailand Year 2012" for world travellers

BANGKOK, December 28 (TNA) - The Thai government, through the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, has introduced the "Miracle Thailand Year 2012" for world travellers, as part of a national tourism plan under which the Kingdom's tourism-related revenues have been targeted to reach some 2 trillion baht over the next five years. Deputy Prime Minister Chumpol Silapa-archa, who is Tourism and Sports Minister concurrently, told reporters that the introduction of the new national tourism promotional program is based on promising prospect of Thailand's tourism industry and related sectors. Chumpol pointed out that international tourist arrivals in Thailand had stood at 17.1 million during the January-November period this year, exceeding an official target earlier set at 15.9 million and earning the country nearly 700 billion baht of tourism-related revenues, despite recent massive floods. The deputy premier foresaw that international tourist arrivals in Thailand should reach 18.5-19 million by the end of this year, as some additional 1.7 million international travellers are expected to visit the Kingdom this month alone. The deputy prime minister, meanwhile, expressed his satisfaction with a recent public rating of his tourism and sports portfolio as the second best ministry, after the Ministry of Defence, praising sound cooperation between public and private agencies concerned, which has raised the number of international visitors to Thailand, through the main Suvarnabhumi International Airport alone to 40,000 daily, from 20,000-30,000 monthly during the flooding crisis over the past couple of months. The deputy premier vowed that his ministry will continue to actively promote the Thai tourism to further boost national tourism-related revenues to some 2 trillion baht over the next five years as targeted, noting that his ministry has been approved a state budget of nearly 3 billion baht for sponsoring post-flood national tourism stimulus covering activities with tour operators, namely tax deductions based on expenses on training and seminar trips, a visa fee waiver for international visitors and a deployment of tourist police to boost security measures and services for tourists nationwide during the upcoming New Year festival. (TNA)