His Excellency Mr. Chumpol Silapa-Archa, Deputy Prime Minster and Minister of Tourism and Sports, Government of Thailand, while addressing the mega FAM trip at Bangkok  said that the impact of the flood in Thailand had a minor impact on Thailand Tourism’s infrastructure. He said that the main tourist attraction which was affected was the World Heritage site at Ayutthaya where the water receded in early November. The site has been fully cleaned up and the tourists are returning. He further said that the tourism industry in Thailand is all set in order and that the Government is expecting an increase of tourist inflow in the year 2011 itself.

Mr. Chumpol Silapa-Archa was addressing a mega event of 250 journalists who were invited from all over the world to witness the actual position of tourism infrastructure in Thailand. It may be noted here that tourism contributes to 6% of Thailand’s GDP and provides more than 2 million jobs. The government has set the targets for 2012 in which they are expecting a total of 19.55 million international tourist arrivals reflecting an increase of 6.83%, amounting to 25.5 billion USD, an increase of 9%.

In the domestic tourist market, they have set a target of 93.65 million trips, an increase of 2.91 % amounting to 15.1 billion USD. Earlier, Mr. Sansern Ngaorungi, Deputy Governor, Asia & South Pacific Market, Tourism Authority of Thailand, while addressing the global journalist group said that Swarn Bhoomi International Airport has got an efficient water protection system. He also informed that the Government of Thailand has taken a series of initiatives to promote tourism and has received tremendous response from all over the world. He informed that AMWAY will be bringing its 15,000 members from China to visit Phukat in April 2012. While talking to Eastern Panorama, Mr. Sansern Ngaorungi said that the Government of India’s Look East Policy is well appreciated and once the infrastructure of the same is completed, it will benefit the Government of Thailand as well as the North East region of India.