Thailand Eyes Tourism Economic Office Using Big Data
Thailand's former tourism minister proposes creating a dedicated "Tourism Economy Office" with big data capabilities to shift the sector toward high-value visitors and structural reform, moving away from event-focused policies.
Veerasak Kovsuratana, advisory chairman to Deputy Prime Minister Suthumphanwanit and former tourism minister, addressed the Thai Travel Business Association's June meeting on "Thailand's Tourism Future and Global Competition," arguing that the tourism sector urgently needs major structural reform. He noted that the former Ministry of Tourism and Sports, established in 2002, lacked strong economic infrastructure, causing it to be perceived as an event-organizing agency rather than a policy-making body over the past 20 years.
Kovsuratana highlighted how other countries strategically position tourism: Japan places it under transport and infrastructure to support aging societies, China puts tourism under presidential or prime ministerial oversight for cross-agency integration, and South Korea combines culture, tourism, and sports to leverage soft power as an economic driver. He proposed Thailand shift toward high-value tourism, focusing on visitors willing to spend more, stay longer, and distribute income to secondary cities.
His key recommendation is establishing a "Tourism Economy Office" with equivalent status to financial or agricultural economic offices, using data-driven analysis to set structural policy rather than emphasizing events. Integrating tourism into the Culture Ministry would align heritage sites, historical parks, and religious institutions under unified management. Kovsuratana also suggested distinguishing "travel" from "tourism," as many visitors come for education, business, or healthcare rather than tourism, requiring different metrics. He emphasized the strategy should prioritize visitor quality and broaden the concept to "visitor economy" rather than simply counting tourist numbers.
