Search

The National Tourism Development Plan B.E. 2555-2559 (2012-2016) aims to develop Thailand as a highly competitive, world-class tourist destination, which will in turn become a significant source of national revenue that will be distributed back to the society in balance and sustainable manner. In order to achieve such goal, five strategic directions have been set as follows:
• development of basic infrastructures and facilities for tourism purposes;
• development and rehabilitation of tourist destinations for sustainability;
• improvement of tourism products, services and other supporting tourism factors;
• improvement of tourism confidence and tourism promotion; and
• encouragement of participation process from all related sectors, including public sectors, civil societies and local administrations, in tourism management.

In order to implement the Government's objectives as set out in the National Economic and Social Development Plan (NESDP) (see section 2) of increasing tourism income by at least 5% in five years, five strategies have been set out in the National Tourism Development Plan 2012-16. These are (...) (ii) to provide for the rehabilitation and sustainable development of tourism sites (...)

The Marine Department, under the Ministry of Transport, is responsible for the promotion and development of maritime transport. It is also in charge of law enforcement, navigation safety, ship registration and inspection, maintenance of navigation channels, providing pilot services for seagoing vessels and minimizing the environmental impact caused by navigation and port activity. (...)

(...) At the latest meeting on 8 July 2015, the private sector was represented by the Board of Trade of Thailand, the Federation of Thai Industries, the Thai Bankers' Association, Tourism Council of Thailand, the Federation of Thai Capital Market Organizations, and Thai National Shippers Council. The meeting reached important resolutions, including (1) approval to establish the Technological Institute for Sustainability and Trade (TIST) to support technology for technical work and product development, the detail of which will be considered and developed by the Ministry of Science and Technology and submitted for the Cabinet's approval; (2) approval to eliminate excise tax on air conditions in motor vehicles, which is currently under the consideration of the Council of State; and (3) approval of the guideline to simplify and eliminate duplication of work among several agencies in determining requirements for sewage, and issuing permits to release sewage to the environment, environmental regulations, and environment assessment reports.

The Ninth IMT-GT Summit was held in Malaysia in April 2015, where the leaders of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand noted the progress in the Implementation Blueprint 2012-2016, covering sector strategies and flagship programs in six areas: (1) transport and energy; (2) trade and investment; (3) tourism; (4) agriculture; (5) Halal products and services; and (6) human resources development. The leaders also recognized the adverse environmental impacts and applauded the initiative of the Chief Ministers and Governors Forum on the Green Cities Action Plan (GCAP) currently implemented in Melaka and Songkla and to be implemented in Medan and Batam. (...)

At the Sixth ACMECS (Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy) Summit in Myanmar in June 2015, the leaders of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam, agreed in promoting different matters, such as to promote foreign direct investment, to expedite the implementation of ACMECS rice cooperation mechanism to promote rice sector development among ACMECS countries, to encourage the establishment of industrial zones, Special and Specific Economic Zones along the ACMECS countries borders and other potential areas, to promote cross border travel with the ACMECS countries under the concept of "Five Countries, One Destination", and to enhance cooperation between ACMECS countries on environmental conservation and sustainable use of natural resources of the Ayeyawaddy, Chao Phraya and Mekong Rivers.

In addition, Thailand is now extending its work in international development cooperation to the modality of "partnership" or "triangular cooperation" to create a synergy of technical collaboration between Thailand and its partner countries and international organizations to help accelerate the third countries' efforts in achieving economic development and attaining development goals including Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which are the key objectives of the Post 2015 development agenda.

As described in its previous review, Thailand participates in other subregional cooperation or development groups, notably the Greater Mekong Subregional Economic Cooperation programme which aims to enhance economic relations in nine priority sectors [27] (...)

[27] The Greater Mekong Subregional Economic Cooperation programme involves Cambodia, China (specifically Yunnan Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region), Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam. The priority sectors are: agriculture, energy, environment, human resource development, investment, telecommunications, tourism, transport infrastructure, and transport and trade facilitation.

In 2014 at the Fifth GMS Summit in Bangkok, leaders of the country members adopted the Regional Investment Framework Implementation Plan (RIF IP) to push forward implementation of the Regional Investment Framework approved at the GMS ministerial meeting in December 2013. RIF is composed of 215 investment and academic assistance projects under ten fields; transportation, energy, agriculture, environment, human resource development, urban development, tourism, trade and transport facilitation, ICT, and others. (...)

In order to improve regulatory quality, all government agencies are required to conduct a regulatory impact analysis (RIA) before submitting any draft act to the Cabinet. The RIA consists of ten questions to be clarified by government agencies which consider the regulation's impact on the economy, society and environment. In December 2014, the Office of the Council of State of Thailand completed a research study on how to improve the quality of RIAs. According to the authorities, it contains three main recommendations to improve the process, content and implementation of RIAs and these proposals are currently being considered.