Weerasak Kohsurat to visit China and Japan

There is no dearth in efforts from the Government to cover up the fall in Thailand tourisms. As a move in this direction, Thailand’s Tourism and Sports Minister Weerasak Kohsurat will fly to China and Japan over the next two weeks to try to persuade the countries’ governments and tour operators to encourage more tourism in Thailand. Mr. Weerasak will provide clear and accurate information about conditions in Thailand in order to clear the doubts in their minds so that they withdraw their travel warnings.

The China trip is planned for Oct 12 and will be followed by a visit to Japan.

Speaking about the Vhina tour, Mr. Weerasak said, ”The Chinese term for the declaration of the state of emergency has a very close meaning to the state of martial law, which is taken seriously by the Chinese, and it therefore frightens tour operators, which are mostly owned by state agencies, and all of their 60,000 clients who planned to travel to Thailand on China’s National Day holiday from Oct 1-10.”

Currently, 23 countries are maintaining travel advisory warnings but seven countries, namely, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, Germany, France and Ireland, have lessened the extent of their warnings after the lifting of the state of emergency, while urging their visitors to stay away from the protest area.

The minister also plans on Oct 3 to meet a 100-car caravan tour travelling from Kunming in China through Chiang Rai, Ayutthaya and Bangkok. Here, the ministry would ask the travellers to help spread a positive message about Thailand and the limited impact of ongoing anti-government protests.