PPP reveals economic package

"Thailand is destined to become a world centre for medical services and manufacturing," he said.

The PPP's economic package has three key aspects - the original mix of populist polices as championed by the disbanded Thai Rak Thai Party, a special mix of enhanced populist policies and a roadmap to boost the country's revenues.

From the original mix, the PPP has vowed to carry on popular schemes such as the Bt30 pervisit health care, the Village Fund, the two and threedigit lotteries, the One Tambon, One Product project and the 10 new train routes for Bangkok commuters.

In the special mix of enhanced policies, it will strive to achieve a fourfold increase in revenue from the tourism industry, while projecting to cut costs of running populist programmes by fourfold.

Regarding the roadmap to boost revenues, it is pinning its hopes on increasing tourist arrivals to finance mega projects instead of raising tax.

Based on the capacity of Suvarnabhumi Airport, tourist arrivals should rise from 11 million per year to 45 million with a projected annual revenue of Bt1.5 trillion to fill the government's coffers.

If elected to lead the next government, the PPP will implement many projects to attract foreign visitors within one year including those to highlight medical services as a tourist attraction.

In order to cut dependence on oil imports, the PPP plans for a 100 per cent conversion from petrol to biofuels such as gasohol.