Organised by the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce in Thailand (JFCCT), Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Thailand Chapter and Skål International Bangkok and Thailand, and co-hosted by the Ramada Plaza Menam Riverside Bangkok, the first meeting was held on October 15, 2013, with recommendations to be re-discussed at the second forum on November 14, 2013.
The forum is organised with the objectives to enhance confidence in the Thai destination as a safe and desirable place to visit, to reduce a negative economic impact for all tourism stakeholders in such destination, to encounter erroneous perceptions created by media coverage, to correct and strive to dispel such perceptions with realistic insights and observation, to provide assistance for the safeguarding of inbound and domestic tourism traffic, and to assist stakeholders to minimise the impact of such residual, negative perceptions.
Mrs. Juthaporn Rerngonasa, TAT Deputy Governor for International Marketing - Europe, Africa, the Middle East and America, who presided over the first meeting, said safety and security were given high priority by the Tourism and Sports Minister, H.E. Mr. Somsak Pureesrisak, who placed tourist safety on the national agenda and established a special committee to oversee the task.
“Thailand’s tourism has continued to grow over the years, and as we are targeting tourism revenue of 2.2 trillion Baht in 2015, we at the TAT have never neglected tourists’ safety and security,” said Mrs Juthaporn. “We are thankful for any initiatives to help improve the safety and security standards by the Thai tourism stakeholders.”
At the first meeting, the half-day symposium was attended by about 100 representatives from tourism-related associations and organisations as well as universities, hotels, tour companies, media and non-profit organisations.
The symposium began with a panel discussion presented by The Netherlands’ Ambassador to Thailand H.E. Mr. Joan A Boer, Dhurakij Pundit University International College’s Deputy Dean Asst. Prof. Korn Campiranon, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific’s (ESCAP) Disaster Risk Reduction Ms Kelly Anne Hayden, Royal Thai Tourism Police’s Deputy Commander Pol Col Archayon Kraithong, and Skål International Thailand’s President Mr Andrew J. Wood.
The panelists offered recommendations on the topic of "facilitating and balancing safety and security" which led to a four-group brainstorming session on enhancing awareness for risk and crisis management in the Thai tourism industry, educating and alerting tourists before and during their stays, cooperating with public sector stakeholders, and cheating the cheaters.
Recommendations from the four sessions will be sent to Dr. Alexandros Paraskevas, Senior Lecturer in Strategic Risk Management at the Oxford School of Hospitality Management (UK), and Dr. David Bierman, Senior Lecturer in Tourism at the University of Technology Sydney for conclusion. Both will present their conclusions at the second meeting on November 14, 2013. The final recommendations with an aim of establishing working groups of joint public and private tourism stakeholders and developing action plans will subsequently be presented to the Minister of Tourism and Sports.
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