“Thailand has under-invested in facilities when considering the country’s aggressive growth in tourists,” he said in an interview on the sidelines of the Asean-Korea Tourism Investment Seminar 2018 in Seoul last weekend.

“If we continue to delay investment to develop the country’s infrastructure – such as investment for the third phase of Suvarnabhumi Airport, Laem Chabang Port phase three, high-speed trains, etc – the country will not have the capacity to serve the expanded number of tourists visiting the country,” he said.

To speed up infrastructure development, the country must open up investment in projects to the private sector under public-private partnerships, and also make it easier for foreign investors to expand their investments in infrastructure or tourist businesses by offering them incentives, Pongpanu said.

Thailand also needed to relax some of its rules that limit the opportunity for foreign investment in the country’s service sector, which now limits investment only to local investors, he said. This would help the country to improve services for foreign tourists.

The country, meanwhile, needed to improve skills among service sector workers, particularly language skills, Pongpanu said, noting that many local people lack the ability to communicate with foreign tourists visiting Thailand.

As well, the expected strong growth of the tourism business called for developing the nation’s innovation-based industries and digital transformation to meet the demand from foreign tourists, he said.

“If we speed up improving the country’s capacity to serve a rising number of tourists, we are confident that Thailand will maintain its market leadership for international tourists in the Asean bloc,” he said.

International tourist visiting Asean nations in 2017 reached 120 million, with Thailand topping out at 35 million visits, followed by Malaysia at 25.9 million.

For 2018, Thailand expects the number of tourists to hit 38 million, up 8 per cent from last year. The tourist sector generates revenue of about 20 per cent of GDP.

To drive the target rise in the number of international tourists, the Tourism and Sports Ministry joined with the Asean-Korea Tourism Investment Seminar 2018 in Seoul, from June 8-10 to promote the country’s tourism.

There they invited South Korean investors to expand their investments in Thailand’s tourist business, Pongpanu said.

Expanded investment

“We proposed marine and cruise, health and sport, and theme park tourism for South Korean investors to expand their investment in Thailand, so that Thailand has the facilities to serve with these activities,” Pongpanu said.

Tourism investment seemingly entered a new era of collaboration, with Asean nations and Korea developing partnerships that began after the Asean Tourism Forum in Chiang Mai, Thailand in January this year. At that event Asean’s tourist ministers agreed to a new approach to collaborate as “Asean+3” – which includes China, Japan, and South Korea – to invest in tourist businesses rather than simply promote tourist visits.

The Asean-Korea Tourism Investment 2018 was the first major get-together following the Chiang Mai meet. Next will come the Asean-China Tourism Investment event in 2019 and Asean-Japan in 2020.

The enlarged vision would support sustainable growth of Asean tourism, said Pongpanu.

“Our Asean strategy is one destination for 10 countries. We try to cooperate to reduce the problems for foreign tourists to visit 10 countries in Asean, especially the process to create one Asean visa for 10 countries that is underway,” said the permanent secretary.

For example, Daewoo Amara Co Ltd has expanded its initial 2013 investment in the Lotte Hotel Yangon, said CEO Lim Seon Kyu. The joint venture between the Korean consortium and a Myanmar partner was approved by the Myanmar Investment Commission, Lim told the Asean-Korea Tourism Investment Seminar 2018 held last week in Seoul.

Lim said the project was a success from when it opened six years ago, and had seen average yearly growth of 7.2 per cent. The tourism industry in Myanmar is experiencing strong growth, while the government policy is to develop the country’s infrastructure to serve a rising number of tourists.

Sehwan Oh, head of the global business development division of SPC Co Ltd, had one-on-one business discussions with Thai businesses about his company’s interest in expanding their investments in health tourism and spas, with a focus on Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam.

“Thailand has strong potential for health and spa businesses, as the number of tourists to Thailand is high when compared with others countries in Asean,” he said at the Seoul investment seminar.

An executive of a South Korea travel firm who joined the seminar last week said he found it useful for considering some new ideas and to get the big picture for investment potential in the Asean bloc.

He is also interested in investing in developing products for the tourism sector in Vietnam. Some 120 million international tourists visited Asean nations in 2017. It is estimated that tourism contributed 12.4 per cent of GDP in Asean for 2017, which is about four per cent higher than other regions of the world, according to an Asean-Korea Centre report.

He said at a recent press conference that Myanmar would hold a large tourism conference in Nay Pyi Taw tomorrow in a bid to regain foreign visitors’ interest in the nation.

“Obviously, our country is full of interesting places everywhere. Such an enormous potential needs to be urgently unlocked before it is too late,” he said.

In cooperation with the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism and the Myanmar Tourism Federation, UMTA will hold the conference at the Myanmar Convention Centre in the capital. Stakeholders from different clusters of Myanmar’s tourism industry will gather at the event in search of quick-wins for sustainable development, he added.

More than 300 people are expected at the event. There, tourism stakeholders will provide suggestions on six core areas – destinations, competitiveness, human resource development, development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), taxation and investment opportunities.

“It will be an extraordinary event, unlike many other events we have held. It is not for show. It is all-inclusive, and will be a good mix of both public and private sectors. Our top leader will deliver an address, and high-ranking officials from tourism-related ministries will be present so that important decisions can be quickly made,” he said.

Internal conflicts

“Currently, our economic development has stalled due to international pressures over our internal conflicts. We continue to receive foreign visitors. But currently, our supply much exceeds tourist demand. We need to generate more income from tourism. So, we urgently need to hold an all-inclusive conference to find the best ways.”

As of March 31 when fiscal year 2017-18 ended, there were 1,628 licensed hotels with 65,470 rooms in Myanmar. A total of 2,676 tour agencies, 4,503 nationwide tour guides and 3,449 regional tour guides have registered under the Directorate of Hotels and Tourism. Among the tour agencies, one is wholly foreign-owned while 41 firms are operating in the form of joint venture with local counterparts.

“Tourism was one of the prioritised areas in the nation’s economic policy during the previous government’s term. But nowadays, it has become less of a priority than ever before. Likewise, we stand behind some other sectors in terms of investment inflows. It is not a satisfactory condition,” he said.

“We are eager to highlight that tourism still plays a critical role in the nation’s further development. For that, we need to attract more visitors. Now it is time to express innovative ideas. We should not think only of taking visitors to our pagodas and temples as well as treating them to rice and curry. We also need to improve the quality of our home-made products.”

According to Thet Lwin Toe, Myanmar needs to invite local and international experts to help the industry reach its bright potential. He believes the event will serve as a take-off for the nation’s tourism development. “We will accelerate the reforms next year. We have planned to host an international tourism summit in Myanmar in the near future,” he said.

Promotion budget

He said Myanmar does not have a large enough budget for the promotion of its market. “The government’s expenditure for tourism is just over US$300,000 (Bt9.5 million) – which is not enough indeed. We need to find the ways to improve our funding. In this case, the government cannot do it alone. The private sector must support it,” he said.

Already, tourism stakeholders have provided their inputs through the revision and modification of 1993 Myanmar Tourism Law, he said. Currently awaiting approval from parliament, the new tourism law will be enacted later this year. He urged small businesses in the tourism sector be encouraged.

“We need to take SMEs into serious consideration. Only when more tourists visit here can survive. For example, foreigners could visit border areas in the past. But nowadays there are some restrictions on travels to border areas, due to some conflicts. If we can promote tourism in those areas, we can help improve the life and living standards of local residents,” he said.

He also urged the authorities to ensure easier access to Myanmar so that the nation would receive more tourists in the years to come.

“Doubtlessly, visa exemption is the key.” Myanmar already issues visa-on-arrival to citizens of some countries. “It will be much better if many countries can apply for a Myanmar visa online. And we need to establish direct air links with Western countries, particularly those from Europe,” he said.

“Thailand has under-invested in facilities when considering the country’s aggressive growth in tourists,” he said in an interview on the sidelines of the Asean-Korea Tourism Investment Seminar 2018 in Seoul last weekend.

“If we continue to delay investment to develop the country’s infrastructure – such as investment for the third phase of Suvarnabhumi Airport, Laem Chabang Port phase three, high-speed trains, etc – the country will not have the capacity to serve the expanded number of tourists visiting the country,” he said.

To speed up infrastructure development, the country must open up investment in projects to the private sector under public-private partnerships, and also make it easier for foreign investors to expand their investments in infrastructure or tourist businesses by offering them incentives, Pongpanu said.

Thailand also needed to relax some of its rules that limit the opportunity for foreign investment in the country’s service sector, which now limits investment only to local investors, he said. This would help the country to improve services for foreign tourists.

The country, meanwhile, needed to improve skills among service sector workers, particularly language skills, Pongpanu said, noting that many local people lack the ability to communicate with foreign tourists visiting Thailand.

As well, the expected strong growth of the tourism business called for developing the nation’s innovation-based industries and digital transformation to meet the demand from foreign tourists, he said.

“If we speed up improving the country’s capacity to serve a rising number of tourists, we are confident that Thailand will maintain its market leadership for international tourists in the Asean bloc,” he said.

International tourist visiting Asean nations in 2017 reached 120 million, with Thailand topping out at 35 million visits, followed by Malaysia at 25.9 million.

For 2018, Thailand expects the number of tourists to hit 38 million, up 8 per cent from last year. The tourist sector generates revenue of about 20 per cent of GDP.

To drive the target rise in the number of international tourists, the Tourism and Sports Ministry joined with the Asean-Korea Tourism Investment Seminar 2018 in Seoul, from June 8-10 to promote the country’s tourism.

There they invited South Korean investors to expand their investments in Thailand’s tourist business, Pongpanu said.

Expanded investment

“We proposed marine and cruise, health and sport, and theme park tourism for South Korean investors to expand their investment in Thailand, so that Thailand has the facilities to serve with these activities,” Pongpanu said.

Tourism investment seemingly entered a new era of collaboration, with Asean nations and Korea developing partnerships that began after the Asean Tourism Forum in Chiang Mai, Thailand in January this year. At that event Asean’s tourist ministers agreed to a new approach to collaborate as “Asean+3” – which includes China, Japan, and South Korea – to invest in tourist businesses rather than simply promote tourist visits.

The Asean-Korea Tourism Investment 2018 was the first major get-together following the Chiang Mai meet. Next will come the Asean-China Tourism Investment event in 2019 and Asean-Japan in 2020.

The enlarged vision would support sustainable growth of Asean tourism, said Pongpanu.

“Our Asean strategy is one destination for 10 countries. We try to cooperate to reduce the problems for foreign tourists to visit 10 countries in Asean, especially the process to create one Asean visa for 10 countries that is underway,” said the permanent secretary.