DASTA assesses progress

BANGKOK, 13 November 2012: Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration will assess the success of its current seven designated areas in order to decide whether it should add new sites.

It has set a target of 10% growth in revenue for communities living in the designated areas during the financial year 2012/2013 (October 2012 to September 2013.

DASTA director-general, Nalikatibhag Sangsnit, said that this year DASTA would create an index that would identify how its efforts have contributed to the local communities.

“Until we complete the assessment, we will not announce new designated areas,” said Mr Nalikatibhag.

Sites that are in the pipeline include Chiang Mai’s moat area, Chiang Saen in Chiang Rai province and Sam Phan Bok in Ubon Ratchathani province.

DASTA recently gained Cabinet approval to establish the U-Thong Archaeological Site. Others are Chang Island and its archipelago; Chiang Mai Night Safari; Nan’s old town; Pattaya; Sukhothai, Sristachanalai and Kamphaengpetch historical parks and Loei.

DASTA says a 10% improvement in revenue in the areas it supports would be an acceptable performance.

The calculation method starts with assessing the average revenue in the first quarter of the fiscal year, October to December, which is then a base to compare with the average revenue for the remaining nine months of the fiscal year, January to September.

DASTA did a pilot revenue survey at two projects, Chang Island and Chiang Mai Night Safari, October 2011 to September 2012. The results showed an increase of around 70% and 15% respectively.

It has also initiated a concept called Community Benefitting through Tourism or CBtT. It is seen as a break with the narrow concept of community-based tourism that was based on villages being directly involved in tourism. According to the new concept they could be working in areas that are indirectly linked to tourism such as growing vegetables or producing soap for hotels.

In this fiscal year, DASTA has a budget of Bt604 million, up 8% from Bt560 million last year. Of that total, a  Bt326 million budget will be allocated to 24 projects in seven DASTA areas.

Some of the projects are: Carrying capacity study in the religious; historical and archaeological sites; a creative green park project; low carbon destination; information technology development.

It is working with the Thai Ecotourism and Adventure Travel Association to design low carbon routes in Loei that are expected to be ready to test in EU source markets, in late 2013 and should be available for sale to consumers in 2014.

“It takes time as they have to design the routes and prepare the operators in the supply chain,” added Mr Nalikatibhag.

It also cooperates with the Tourism Council of Thailand to help with the development of the U-Thong Archaeological Site.

“U-Thong Archaeological Site is difficult because there is nothing left only the ruined foundations. It will be a challenge to attract tourists. However, there is already a project to build the world’s largest Buddha image carved out of the side of  a mountain (Khao Tham Tiem) similar in style to the Buddha of Bamiyan that was destroyed by the Taliban in Afghanistan.”

It will require a budget of Bt200 million. Work on the project is entirely dependent on donations from the private sector, which makes it difficult for DASTA to provide even a preliminary opening timeline.

Sourced: ttrweekly