“Thailand is aiming for fully universal-design tourism through our heritage and cultural attractions,” Prayut said at the celebrating of World Tourism Day.
The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) also called for more investment and improved management for disabled tourists globally.
Prayut said that by 2060, the number of people aged 60 and over would increase to 20 per cent of the world’s population, with one-fifth of this group living to be over 80 years old.
Elderly and disabled tourists can be a huge opportunity for Thailand’s tourism industry. To achieve that goal, the government needs cooperation from the private sector, community networks, civil society, policymakers and tourism stakeholders.
David Scowsill, president and chief executive officer of the WTTC, said the travel and tourism industries had to offer more accessibility for disabled tourists with three priorities.
First, they have to understand the market’s dynamics and opportunities so that operators can prioritise actions accordingly. They have to look at what the leading players are providing and learn from them, as often some simple adaptations or a mere awareness of the needs of people with a disability can make a big difference.
And third, they have to partner with organisations that have experience in working in accessibility to ensure that what operators can provide are appropriate and communicated effectively.
He argued for catering to people with disabilities far beyond those travellers restricted to wheelchairs, such as all forms of mobility restrictions, hearing or visual impairments, learning disabilities and mental-health issues.
This encompasses the needs of an ageing population around the world
“Travel and tourism [industry] needs to take accessibility requirements seriously. The imperative is not only moral, but it also makes good business sense,” he said.
The global Sustainable Development Goals provide a road map for a more equitable and sustainable future. If the industry is going to be truly inclusive in its growth, it must ensure that it is accessible to everyone, Scowsill said.
Nearly 15 per cent of the world’s population is estimated to live with some form of disability. As populations get older, the number of people with special needs is going to increase.
“Many tourism businesses can be deterred from making themselves more accessible. Sometimes they have financial concerns about the investment necessary to alter or refit their facilities, and at other times they are concerned about offending people.
“That is why days such as the World Tourism Day are so important. We need to raise awareness of the opportunities of accessibility and the mechanisms by which it can be achieved,” he said.

“Government infrastructure investment is a key contributor to growth in Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand,” said a new ADB report.
The Bank of Thailand’s forecast for this year is 3.2-per-cent growth in gross domestic product.
In an update of its flagship annual economic publication, “Asian Development Outlook 2016” (ADO), the ADB kept its 2017 GDP growth forecast for Thailand unchanged from its March estimates.
Infrastructure investment in the Philippines and Thailand is a reason that convinced the development bank that Southeast Asian economies would see growth edge up to 4.5 per cent in 2016, from 4.4 per cent in 2015. This countered sluggish export demand and drought that caused agriculture to contract in all these economies except Indonesia in the first half of 2016.
Despite strong performance in the Philippines and Thailand, forecasts for Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam were downgraded for several reasons.
For Indonesia, the 2016 growth forecast is cut to 5 per cent, improving on 2015 but 0.2 percentage point below the earlier projection because investment is rising at a more moderate pace than anticipated.
In 2017, the subregion is expected to benefit from a pick-up in demand from advanced economies and higher prices for export commodities, but the forecast is trimmed by 0.2 percentage point to 4.6 per cent.
Inflation is lower than earlier projected, suppressed by soft global food and fuel prices. It is now seen slowing to 2 per cent in 2016 before picking up to 2.9 per cent in 2017 on higher global commodity prices and domestic demand.
The report noted that household debt required careful monitoring in Malaysia and Thailand, where it exceeds 70 per cent of GDP. However, it added that excessive household leverage was not likely to set off a severe crisis in Asia as long as interest and unemployment rates are low.
Developing Asia, a group of 41 countries including Thailand, is expected to expand by 5.7 per cent in 2016 and 2017 thanks mainly to resilience in the region’s two largest economies – China and India – amid external turbulence.
“Strong growth in the PRC and India is helping the region maintain its growth momentum,” Juzhong Zhuang, ADB deputy chief economist, said in a statement released from the bank’s Hong Kong office.
“Still, policymakers need to watch for downside risks including potential capital reversals that could be triggered by monetary-policy changes in advanced economies, especially the US.” The ADO Update notes that risks to the region’s outlook remain tilted to the downside, with the external environment still fragile and the possibility of an interest-rate increase by the US Federal Reserve leaving open the potential for disruptive capital flows that could complicate macroeconomic policy management in the region.
A delayed recovery continues to hamper major industrial economies (the US, the euro area and Japan), and the ADO Update has trimmed the earlier 2016 growth forecast to 1.4 per cent, rising slightly to 1.8 per cent in 2017.