TCT members divided over new chief

Thailand's tourism industry is expected to show impressive improvement this year and next year, as political stability is putting the country back on the world tourist map. Forecasts for arrivals and revenue have been revised up, but success would hinge on the unity of market players, particularly those under the Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT). The TCT, which brings together 76 tourism associations and organisations, is set to name its new chairman on September 11. It remains to be seen who will get that position, as members are divided between Piyaman Tejabaibul and Kongkrit Hiranyakit. At this stage, only Piyaman, the current TCT president, has publicly announced her intention to seek another term. Though reiterating a lack of interest, Kongkrit, a former president, said that he was being coerced to join the race. "Many associations are asking me to give it another chance," said Kongkrit. Since TCT's formation 10 years ago with 45 tourism bodies in the provinces and 31 in Bangkok, it has seen three presidents. Wichit na Ranong held the position for the first four years, followed by Kongkrit, who also served two terms of two years each. While Kongkrit receives support from provincials associations, those in Bangkok are supporting Piyaman. Both Piyaman and Kongkrit have had friendly ties for a long time and they have been working closely in tourism development. Kongkrit, however, gained more publicity while in office, being aggressive particularly when hotels were badly hit by political unrest during 2008-2010. Piyaman realised that. Last week, she called a press conference, a week before the end of her two-year term. She said her dream for the country was to achieve tourism income of Bt2 trillion per annum in 2015, along with many new development projects for the entire industry. She did not hide her ambition |to be named TCT president for another term. She said no president in the past 10 years had faced difficulty in winning votes for another term. "I would say that the tourism industry's unity is now at its strongest point. TCT can bring all key associations under one umbrella and work in the same direction. This has never happened in the past," Piyaman said. The industry has seen its ups and downs, mostly downs in the past 10 years, starting with the coup d'etat in 2006 when Wichit was the president. The situation worsened during Kongkrit's presidency from 2007-2010. Despite the crisis, both ex-presidents have come up with some master plans like issuing the National Tourism Plan and adding tourism as a government strategy to restore the economy. Free from political problems and natural calamities this year, the Thai tourism industry has already returned to normal with the number of tourist arrivals expected to hit 20 million. However, some business operators are still fretting about bad news and they are looking for strength they did not see in Piyaman. If she is to win the support of all, Piyaman herself will need to do more to ensure sustainable growth. She needs to assure all members that under her guidance, TCT will take the lead in pushing national tourism revenue from Bt1.2 trillion in 2011 to Bt2 trillion in 2015 and in preparing the entire industry for the Asean Economic Community in 2015. Sourced: nationmultimedia