Weerasak was responding to the Phoenix boat accident that killed 47 Chinese tourists earlier this month off the southern resort island of Phuket.

There are many issues that authorities should review and rectify to help improve tourists’ confidence in Thailand as a safe destination, Weerasak told The Nation in an interview.

He said authorities should complete the first phase of the process by paying all compensation that is due to the relatives of victims and return them to their country.

Authorities should then try to figure out what happened to the boats by retrieving the wreckage for inspection. Concerned agencies should collect statistics nationwide about boat accidents and study international standards for tour boats that can be compared to Thailand.

He also urged authorities to explain that the cause of the accident was not related to so-called zero-dollar tours or nominee ownership in tourism.

“[People] should not generalise. We should be sympathetic to those who lost their loved ones. Money cannot bring them back,” he said.

He also urged authorities to speed up the completion of a safety standards manual to improve confidence.

“If we can manage all the issues we then can send a single, convincing message to the world, the Chinese, and local people and ask them to have confidence in us,” he said.

The number of Chinese tourist visitors to Phuket has dropped sharply in the wake of the tragedy.

This is in addition to the 15 hotels that already deploy nearly 100 devices for QR code scanning on WeChat Pay. It says it is the largest hotel group in Thailand offering Chinese tourists omnichannel payment solutions.

Bills for accommodation, restaurants and spa treatments can be paid directly from smartphones.

The company expects to have WeChat Pay at all its sites globally by the end of 2018.

Thirayuth Chirathivat, Centara chief executive officer, said: “A seamless payment experience for consumers using any channel is an element of our platform for expansion, which should see us double both revenue and the number of our properties over the next five years.

“As consumer behaviour evolves, Centara has adopted an omnichannel strategy to stay relevant and to provide a great customer experience. We embrace these types of disruptive opportunities to better serve our guests and stay on top of the industry.”

Chinese tourists account for almost one-third of all foreign visitors. Thailand is welcoming an ever-increasing number of Chinese visitors, for whom the kingdom remains the top travel destination. This year, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports expects more than 10 million Chinese tourists to travel to Thailand.

WeChat Pay is the payment solution of WeChat, one of the largest social networks in China, and the main cashless payment method for small transactions with more than 800 million active users in its database.

“The number of Chinese tourists booking with Centara keeps growing. They are a significant customer base for all businesses in Thailand. Centara’s Chinese website receives hundreds of thousands of visits with almost half from mobile devices,” Thirayuth said.

“We have found that more Chinese people are interested in travelling to countries along the Belt and Road, so it brings a dose of good news to every industry, including us [aviation industry],” Dong Bo, China Eastern’s chief marketing officer, told The Nation during a recent visit to the airline’s headquarters in Shanghai.

Dong said that the BRI initiative will spur facilitating construction, more trade and investment flows, and more contact between the people of the countries along the Belt and Road.

Chinese President Xi Jinping in late 2013 proposed the development strategy, which focuses on connectivity and cooperation between the countries of the Eurasian land mass and beyond with China, linked by the land-based Silk Road Economic Belt and the ocean-going Maritime Silk Road.

The BRI includes a number of hugely ambitious projects, including China’s aim to build a 3,000km high-speed line from Kunming, in Yunnan province, all the way down to Singapore, passing through Laos, Thailand and Malaysia.

“China Eastern has been building the Aviatic Silk Road,” Dong said.

In line with the initiative, the airline had by the end of last year opened 131 routes to 45 cities in 21 countries along the Belt and Road, with 38,000 flights a year, according to Dong.

The transport capacity input last year increased by 13 per cent year on year and by 33 per cent compared to 2015.

Dong said the statistics for this year also showed that the number of international passengers is rising at a faster pace.

“Dong Dong”, a robot of China Eastern Airlines greets visitors at its headquarters in Shanghai.

Shanghai-based China Eastern serves more international destinations than any of its Chinese rivals. With the network enabled by the carrier’s membership of the SkyTeam Airline Alliance, its passengers can reach 1,074 destinations in 177 countries, including all those along the Belt and Road.

Thailand is China Eastern’s biggest market in Southeast Asia and the most popular destination for Chinese tourists, Dong added.

China is the biggest source of tourists to Thialnd, with 9.8 million visiting the Kingdom last year, marking a 12 per cent increase from 2016. Last year, Chinese accounted for 30 per cent of the total 35.8 million tourist arrivals.

The airline operates daily flights from Shanghai and Beijing to Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Phuket and Krabi. It also flies from Kunming to Bangkok.

As Thailand is pushing hard to lure foreign investment under the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) development scheme, Dong said his airline will have an opportunity to provide services to U-Tapao airport in Rayong province – a facility destined for a massive upgrade under the EEC plans.

However, Dong said China Eastern is very cautious on investment in overseas airports, as the airline is focused more on Chinese airports, especially a new facility in Beijing.

“We are sparing no effort to build a new airport hub in Beijing,” he said.

The as-yet unnamed airport, 46 kilometres south of central Beijing, is designed to take pressure off the overcrowded Beijing Capital International Airport, the world’s second busiest airport, in the northeastern suburbs.

China Eastern and Guangzhou-based China Southern will invest 13.2 billion yuan and 14.8 billion yuan, respectively, in the new airport in an effort to enhance their positions in the Beijing market.

In 2016, the Civil Aviation Administration of China announced that the two carriers, along with other SkyTeam members, will move to the capital’s new airport in Daxing district.

Beijing-based Air China and other Star Alliance member carriers are expected to remain at Beijing Capital Airport, which has a shortage of aircraft slots.

When the airport is completed in September 2019, China Eastern will be stationed in the new facility as the No 1 airline there, Dong said.

It plans to put 150 to 200 large and medium-sized passenger aircraft into use at the new airport and opens flights to the United States, Europe, Oceania, Southeast Asia, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, carrying 40 million passengers per year.

These flights will mesh with the existing vast network of China Eastern to form a new one with Beijing and Shanghai as the two major hubs, from which passengers can fly anywhere in the world, Dong said.

Under the overall plan, the company aims to operate a fleet of over 820 aircraft and to achieve its strategic mission in a preliminary sense by 2020, he said.

In the short run, Yunyong Thaicharoen said, the government has to investigate the cause of the accident in which a dive boat sank in rough seas, leaving 42 Chinese tourists dead and another 14 missing.

The government must also rebuild confidence among tourists, demonstrating that lessons were learned from this tragedy and steps taken to prevent a recurrence, he suggested.

No pre-booked tours have been cancelled since the accident, but it is now low tourist season, Yunyong noted.

He said Thailand would likely welcome 38.2 million foreign visitors this year, up 8 per cent over 2017.

Tourism grew by 13 per cent in the first five months of this year and 27 per cent among Chinese travellers.

Airbnb and the DLA will train provincial officials in hospitality, hosting and compliance standards, and existing Airbnb homestays.

DLA director-general Suttipong Juljarern and Airbnb executive Mike Orgill announced the partnership at a Chulalongkorn University Alumni Association meeting on Tuesday.

Airbnb and the DLA have agreed to train officials in using Airbnb to distribute tourism income to communities and raise the quality of homestays and to show interested people how they can create and manage their own listings on the platform.

They plan to build a community of hosts in each province who can support and learn from each other.

The launch was followed by an initial joint training workshop conducted by three Airbnb “superhosts” and community leaders, and guest speakers from the Department of Provincial Administration and Immigration Bureau.

Operated by AirAsia with flight code AK, the flight landed at Phuket International Airport at 8.30pm on Sunday.

In conjunction with the occasion, AirAsia is offering celebratory promotional all-in-fares from Bt999 from Phuket to Penang, available for booking from today to July 8 for travel through January 31 next year.

Customers can visit airasia.com or use the AirAsia mobile app on iPhone or Android devices to enjoy the special fares, AirAsia Malaysia head of commercial Spencer Lee said.

The daily direct flights from Phuket are the eighth new route launched by the airline into Penang as a group.

AirAsia also connects travellers between Bangkok and Penang with 14-times-weekly direct flights.

Airbnb welcomed more than 160,000 guests from 135 countries to Chiang Mai in 2017, with an average growth of 71 per cent year-over-year.

Airbnb Experiences give travellers unprecedented insider access through selected activities arranged by local experts.

From being immersed in the Hmong community to learning about the traditional yantra tattoo, Airbnb uses technology as a platform to connect people and create cross-cultural interaction.

“Travellers are increasingly interested in exploring authentic experiences through the eyes of locals,” said Parin Mehta, director of Experiences Asia Pacific.

“This is not just about foreign travellers, either. Domestic travel is also on the rise, with 60 per cent growth in domestic guest arrivals from the past year. Locals are finding new ways to rediscover and enjoy the magic and hospitality of what their country has to offer.”

Globally, Airbnb offers 13,000 Experiences in 180 cities. In Thailand, Chiang Mai is the second-largest market for Experiences after Bangkok.

Airbnb has expanded its platform across the country, where individuals or professional tour guides can now request to list on the platform and connect with the global network of more than 300 million Airbnb travellers.

“As tourism in Thailand continues to grow rapidly, it is increasingly important to promote sustainable travel,” said Worapong Phukpoo, head of research at Thailand’s Community Based Tourism Institute (CBT-I).

“We are heartened that Airbnb is empowering entrepreneurs and strengthening communities by providing a global platform for them to share their passions and businesses.”