Wandee Tiansawakit, former president of the Professional Tourist Guide Association in Buri Ram province, said tourism operators such as hotels and travel companies wanted the government to promote Buri Ram Airport as an international airport as well as add a new cargo terminal to the airport in order to attract more domestic and international airlines.

She said Buri Ram had for years been a famous sports destination thanks to the Buriram United football team and the team’s world-class stadium.

She said big matches at the stadium lured the young and families to the province while local organisations had positioned Buri Ram as a meeting and leisure destination thanks to 60 ancient castles there, its unique culture and six inactive volcanoes. “If Buri Ram Airport is promoted as an international airport with a cargo terminal and a customs office, it should attract more domestic and foreign airlines to operate flights there and it will result in the province gaining more tourism business.”

If the airport were upgraded, other provinces in the lower Northeast region such as Surin, Srisaket, and Ubon Ratchathani were expected to gain more visitors, especially from Southeast Asia.

Currently, only two budget airlines, Nok Air and Thai AirAsia, use the airport. More than 80 per cent of tourists travelling to the region are from other provinces.

According to Wandee, Buri Ram provincial authorities will open a new gateway to the region at Ban Thok Phet, facilitating cross-border tourism between Thailand and Cambodia.

Numchai Pornpirunroj, owner of Porn Numchai Travel in Nong Khai in the upper Northeast, said most tourists visiting the province were from Vietnam, China, and South Korea. Some retired expatriates from Japan and Western countries lived there.

He urged officials to promote heritage sites in Western markets, such as Ban Chiang-Unesco’s pre-historic site and Uncle Ho House in Udon Thani.