Vittaya Yoondorn
The Tourism and Sports Ministry has joined Suan Sunantha University
to help Pattaya bureaucrats prepare for the ASEAN Economic Community’s
expected increase in tourism.
Dr. Jeera Hongladarom.
At a May 29 “pre-planning” meeting at Pattaya City Hall, Dr. Jeera
Hongladarom, secretary at the university’s Foundation for International
Human Resource Development invited bureaucrats to brainstorm ideas to
promote integrating tourism and sports.
Jeera said the meeting was aimed at building connections between the
public and private sectors to expand the management in tourism and
sports to follow the tourism strategies of the country and improve
skills of personnel and organizations concerned with tourism management.
The meeting suggested two training forums to prepare for opening of the
AEC in 2015, a “pre-planning” education seminar to determine the demands
the AEC will place on the tourism industry; and a public seminar to
exchange information on implementing plans and strengthening the network
of tourism and sports officials.
The Ministry of Tourism and Sports is also creating
strategies to prepare tourism and sports for AEC and believes that
development of human capital will help prevent financial losses and
improve quality and service.
Rattanachai Sutidechanai, chairman of Pattaya City Council’s Tourism and
Sports Committee, said the city has done a number of things to prepare
for AEC, including focusing on transportation, safety and garbage
collection.
To increase tourism after entering the AEC, he said, Pattaya should
focus on the elderly and disabled. To that end, the city is making
Pattaya and Jomtien beaches wheelchair accessible. As for sports,
Pattaya has promoted a youth marching band competition, golf and tennis
tournaments, and extreme sports.
