Joint efforts of governmental organisations to boost local tourism

BANGKOK, March 23 (TNA) - The Industry Ministry, the Tourism and Sports Ministry and SME Development Bank join forces to develop tourism-related operators at the local level. Representatives of the Tourism Department under the Tourism and Sports Ministry, the office of permanent secretary for industry and Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank (SME Development Bank) signed an agreement on their joint project to enhance the capabilities of local tourism-related operators. The project targets small and medium-sized operators who form the majority of tourism-related operators including tour guide service providers, hoteliers and community-based tour operators. Deputy Industry Minister Somchai Harnhirun said the project would support tourism which was a major source of national income and help strengthen local economy. Anant Wongbencharat, director-general of the Tourism Department, said the department would help promote community-based tourist destinations and the villages where the Industry Ministry and SME Development Bank were supporting local industries. Besides, local operators would be trained on the development of local tourist attractions and tourist services among other issues. Last year 35 million foreigners visited Thailand and spent 3 trillion baht but only 10% of them went to secondary tourist destinations. The Tourism Department planned to increase the proportion to 30%, Mr Anant said. SME Development Bank president Mongkol Leelatham said the bank was offering soft loans to small tourism-related operators in communities who played important roles in local economy. He expected the project would lead about 8,000 local tourism operators to borrow about 10 billion baht from the bank this year. (TNA)