Amazing Thailand 1998/1999 is a image makeover for tourism
Text and photos by Sirikit Syah
Thai International recently invited several journalists to inspect tourism projects in Thailand. The following two articles are the result of that visit. The Jakarta Post and four other media representatives met Pradech Phayakvichien at Prince Palace Restaurant in Bangkok's Chinatown.
BANGKOK (JP): Pradech Phayakvichien is the man behind the Amazing Thailand 1998-1999, an ambitious project to glorify all that is good about the country's tourism.
As deputy governor for planning and development of the Thailand Tourism Authority, he has a tight schedule these days.
But he found time recently to discuss the project aimed at putting a new face on Thai tourism.
Question: What is Amazing Thailand?
Answer: It is everything amazing about Thailand -- the festivals, nature, culture, adventure, shopping.
But what makes it more special this time is because in 1998- 1999, we are offering a lot of new products, besides the Asian Games in 1998, of course.
In the past 35 years, Thailand was only famous for its temples, resorts and maybe Bangkok.
Now we offer a lot more. Educational tourism, ecotourism, food and fruit and most of all, shopping. You know, people in neighboring countries shop in Singapore and Hong Kong. Bangkok is cheaper.
Especially with this grand sale and Christmas season, Bangkok is a shopping paradise. We plan to have this sales season at least twice a year. We have talked about it with department stores.
Q: Thai food is now famous worldwide. What was the recipe for this success?
A: Yes, Thai restaurants are found in many parts of the world now, just like Italian or Japanese cuisine. When people like Thai food, they will want to come to the country.
But now we emphasize the art of Thai food servings. You will notice the carvings of fruits and vegetables, the lay out, the performance. Also, we are opening cooking classes.
Visitors or guests at hotels could join the class. They could buy raw materials and take a cooking lesson with the hotel chef, then dine together, or they just pay as much as the average dining rate. So, actually there is no charge for the lesson.
It is quite popular among tourists.
Q: What about ecotourism? You seem to be serious in this.
A: Ecotourism is among our priorities. The process took one-and-a-half years. You know, we in the tourism business sometimes feel uneasy because of the negative impact of tourism development. We have to do positive things that could outnumber the negative ones. We used to hear people talking about sex and prostitution in Thailand.
Ecotourism is a good thing. For us, it is not only used as a tourism product, but it is a national concept. We are doing a lot of networking on this matter.
Q: What do you mean by networking?
A: Networking of all people concerned. The commission has done a lot of discussions and seminars together with environmentalists, villagers, expert groups, etc, to come up with our new constitution.
For instance, there is a program called "Thambon" (literally meaning village). The government gives full autonomy to villages so that they have the right to say "no" to tourism development which they fear could damage nature or society.
Q: What is the goal of ecotourism?
A: To erase the terms of "good guy" and "bad guy". You know, the tourism people have always been called the bad guy, and the environmentalists are called the good guy. It is not like that. There is positive and negative sides in everything. If we can't have more good sides, at least we have to have a balance.
Q: How do you deal with the negative image over Thai tourism, especially concerning child prostitution and sexually transmitted diseases?
A: We have to clear that image. Yes, I won't deny it, we have prostitution. But the publication most of the time misleading. We have a lot more than just sex in Thailand. We have to correct that by showing them the truth. We are working hard in this case.
Q: Who are your market targets?
A: In the past we got 55 percent Asia Pacific tourists, mainly from Japan and Korea, besides Malaysia and Singapore. North America and Europe make up another 40 percent. Now we think that Indonesia is a very good market; regarding the population, it has a lot of potential. Also, it is near and there is the fact that Indonesian people love to shop. They will spend their money shopping. Bangkok is a much better shopping center than Singapore or Hong Kong.
Q: You must have a big budget for promoting this project?
A: To conduct such a campaign we need to have some extra budget, but unfortunately we don't. Our promotion budget is the same as last year, which means less than 40 percent because of the baht's depreciation. And 50 percent of it should be spent abroad. It is quite hard.
Q: How has this campaign impacted on the Thai people?
A: There is a very good thing about this campaign. People work together and our society is developed. Everybody says "amazing" about anything now. You will hear in daily conversation people say amazing style, amazing food, amazing girls, etc. At least we have succeeded in making our own people believe how amazing our country is.