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Published on November 23, 2007

One academic should be hailed for his proposal for the Loy Krathong festival. He said that confronted with the colossal waste disposal after the festival, Thais should be encouraged to use one krathong for the entire family, and not one for each of them. Notorious as a venue for romantic couples, the festival should also require that a couple use only a single krathong.

All krathongs should be tied with a thread to make sure that none floats out of sight. This should make it easy for the garbage collectors and ensure that none of the krathongs are left in the already-polluted rivers and klongs.

It's a great proposal, but it could cause dismay to krathong sellers and in particular the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), as the festival would be less mesmerising with fewer candles. Is it time to weigh tourism returns and environmental impact?

Tourist trap

Last Wednesday, a seminar was hosted by the Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT) in Bangkok. Some 400 guests from many provinces expected to hear something new, given that the panellists - representing four political parties - were associated with TAT.

Showing up at the talk on "New Dimensions of Tourism and the Future of Politics" were three deputy leaders - Jurin Laksanawisit (Democrat Party); Korn Dabbaransi (Chart Thai); Juthamas Siriwan (For the Motherland Party) and Mingkwan Seangsuwan, who heads the People Power Party's economic team.

Jurin was the PM's Office minister who took charge of TAT. Korn looked after the agency when he was a deputy prime minister. Mingkwan was highly successful with the Chinatown celebration, luring many Chinese tourists. Juthamas is an ex-governor of TAT.

Yet, at the forum, they kept talking about yesterday's issues and churning up criticism, without sharing any concrete plans on how to turn Thailand into the world's top tourism destination.

Not surprisingly, after half an hour, more than half the guests left the venue and more followed them until only 15-20 per cent remained when the curtain was lowered on the shambles. 

One guest said he could spend his time more valuably reading comic books.  This might irritate the panellists. But they should receive the criticism in a positive light and brush up their ideas, in case they receive any more invitations to expand on their future tourism strategies.

achara_d@nationgroup.com

The Nation