The Thai government plans to promote tourism next year under the new slogan “Visit Thailand 2022, Now Even More Amazing Thailand Has It All”, together with investments as well as the setting up of a tourism promotional fund to transform Phuket into a world class destination.

The ambitious plan for Phuket and the tourism sector was approved during an online meeting today (Thursday) of the Centre for Economic Situation Administration, chaired by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.

A tourism promotion fund, with the support of the private sector and civil society, will be set up, not just to promote tourism but also to effect changes in the tourism industry for sustainable growth, as well as reducing as much red tape as possible to promote tourism.

According to the NESDC, various lockdown restrictions have been eased to make travel easier, such as the shortening quarantine from 14 to 7 days, issuance of visa on arrival and the granting of permission for Russian passenger aircraft to land in Phuket.

Regarding subsidies to help Thai SMEs to retain their work force, each employee will receive a subsidy of 3,000 baht a month for three months, from November until January next year, to encourage them not to leave their work places.

The number of employees eligible to receive the subsidy will be based on the employment lists of workers joining the social security scheme, but the employers will be required to keep their work force at no less than 95% to be eligible for the subsidy and they must pay their workers no less than the minimum wage.

There are about 480,000 SMEs across Thailand which have fewer than 200 employees each, with a total work force of about five million.

Source: Thai Public Broadcasting Service