On September 16, 2022, at 10.00 hours, the Labour Minister, Mr. Suchart Chomklin, assigned Assistant to the Labour Minister, Mr. Surachai Chaitrakulthong, to chair the commencement of the Annual General Meeting of the Tourism Council of Thailand and “The Tourist Gathering 2022″, with a special presentation on“Progressing with Thai Tourism.” Assistant Ministers from the Prime Minister’s Office, performing duties for the Ministry of Labour, Mr. Suthi Sukosol, and Sergeant Major Yossingh Liamlert, the Deputy Permanent Secretary of Labour, and Mr. Wannarat Srisuksai, joined the opening event at the Rama Gardens Hotel, Bangkok. The Assistant to the Labour Minister said that Thailand is a country with beautiful and diverse tourist attractions that can attract both Thai and foreign tourists, generating income for Thais. Recently, the world, including Thailand, faced the COVID-19 crisis. The government attached great importance to supporting the Thai people to overcome the crisis, whereby various projects were launched to help tourism. Additionally, during the past two years, Thailand faced the COVID-19 situation. The Ministry of Labour issued several measures to alleviate the suffering of workers affected by COVID-19. Entrepreneurs and workers in the tourism and service sectors are indispensable. It is a business sector that was greatly affected by the COVID-19 situation, and it was necessary to speed up recovery to return to normal as soon as possible, as the tourism and service sectors are an important mechanism for generating income for the country. During the COVID-19 situation, there were many important incidents, such as the clusters among migrant workers in Samut Sakhon Province, where the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Public Health organized factory quarantines for workers to return home during the new year. There was also the cluster in entertainment venues, where they conducted routine and proactive testing for COVID-19. Factories shut down due to outbreaks. The Ministry of Labour organized the Factory Sandbox project based on economic and public health principles, maintaining employment in key export manufacturing sectors, including the automotive, food, electronic parts, and medical equipment sectors. It assisted SMEs in maintaining employment and made minimum wage adjustments to align with the current situation, where the prices of consumer goods are rising. There have been efforts to upgrade worker skills in tourism and services to enable the workers to increase the country’s competitiveness in tourism, including collaboration with the private sector in five tourism professions groups, including 1. Tourism and transportation service businesses. 2. Accommodations and community-based tourism. 3. Restaurants and souvenir businesses. 4. Meeting and seminar business, and 5. Health, sports, and recreation businesses. Discussions and guidelines have been exchanged to promote tourism and MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions), especially in seeking opportunities in the tourism business in border provinces, connecting five regional economic corridors with neighboring countries.
The government has policies to drive development; thus, the efforts are an important start. There has been collaboration with various partners such as TCEB (Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau (Public Organization)), the Tourism Authority of Thailand, the Office of SMEs Promotion, the Digital Economy Promotion Agency, the Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration (Public Organization), including other government agencies. It is a new dimension of collaboration between the private and public sectors. The government is eager to use the cooperation framework as a voice to understand the problems that arise to implement the following remedial policies. Finally, the Ministry of Labour sincerely hopes that the emergence of this cooperation framework will be a mutually beneficial platform for tour operators and MICE in driving the recovery of the tourism industry and sustainable development, concluded Mr. Suchart.
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Division of Public Relations
