PM happy to learn Bangkok most visited in Asia-Pacific

BANGKOK, May 6 (TNA) -- Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha is pleased to learn that Bangkok ranks first as the top destination among foreign tourists in Asia-Pacific region, said a spokesman of the Prime Minister’s Office on Saturday. Spokesman Lt Gen Sansern Kaewkamnerd said the prime minister has already given an order to the Tourism and Sports Ministry to cooperate with the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) in raising food quality of the street food vendors in the Thai capital. Bangkok was named the city with the best street food in the world by CNN for the second year running. The order was issued after the Mastercard Asia-Pacific Destinations Index 2017 showed that Bangkok has retained its place as the Top Destination in terms of Visitor Numbers out of 171 destinations in Asia-Pacific region. The figures also showed that Bangkok welcomed 19.3 million international overnight arrivals in 2016 of the 339.2 million visits made to the 171 Asia-Pacific destinations on the Mastercard list. This put the Thai capital above second place Singapore which attracted 13.1 million. Other Thai destinations including Phuket island and Pattaya are also ranked in the top ten on the report, with 9.1 and 8.1 million overnight visits respectively. The Mastercard Asia-Pacific Destinations Index is an off-shoot of the annual Mastercard Global Destimation Cities Index and reflects the increasing importance of the Asia-Pacific region for tourism. Urging the Thais to be proud and to also help preserve the capital, Lt Gen Sansern said Gen Prayut had ordered the Tourism and Sports Ministry to coordinate with the BMA in making the capital clean and to also improve food quality of food stalls along footpaths in Bangkok. Food selling by stalls along Yaowaraj Road, known as Chinatown, and Khao San Road, a popular zone for backpacker, in Bangkok will become more delicious from late May, said Lt Gen Sansern. (TNA)