New tourism council chief promises to revamp organisation

The new president of the Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT) has vowed to restructure the internal organisation and reconcile collaborations in the private tourism sector.

Chai Arunanondchai, vice-president of the Thai Federation of Provincial Tourist Associations and president of Samut Prakan Tourism Development Association, was elected on Tuesday as the new TCT president for 2024-2026, taking over from Chamnan Srisawat, whose four-year term expired.

Mr Chai said he wants to reform the TCT and prioritise collaborations between members, especially reconciling seven large tourism associations that left the council in 2023 in order to establish the Federation of Thai Tourism Associations.

He said there are unsolved tourism issues in each region that have not been properly addressed. Mr Chai wants to conduct in-depth studies to provide each region with solutions to improve their tourism products, which could highlight their uniqueness to foreign markets.

Tourism operators told him they still lack sources of finance to develop and upgrade their markets. Mr Chai said the TCT plans to discuss with related government agencies and the Chamber of Commerce assistance to improve tourism operators’ competitiveness by offering sufficient funding.

The TCT committee’s election was held on Tuesday. Four candidates put together their teams to run the council over the next two years, including Mr Chai, Thanate Vorasaran and Dr Somchai Jearanaisilp, who are both TCT vice-presidents, and Virintra Papakityotsaphat, president of the Tourism Council of Phuket.

However, Dr Somchai abruptly withdrew his candidacy during the process, leaving only three candidates.

This year, 181 association members were eligible to vote for 13 committees representing each tourism professional sector, and another 13 committees representing regional sectors.

These 26 representatives then selected another eight special committees for a total of 34 committees and casted their votes for the new TCT president.

All eight special committees supported Mr Chai’s candidacy, enabling him to take up the position.

Included among the members of the eight special committees were Dr Somchai, Somsong Sachaphimukh, Bhummikitti Ruktaengam, advisory chairman of the Phuket Tourist Association, and Ratchaporn Poolsawadee, president of the Tourism Association of Koh Samui.

Mr Ratchaporn said the committee aims to rebuild trust for the tourism council through collaboration with all stakeholders and reform outdated tourism laws.