Thai PM flies tourism flag

In his luncheon address, "Amazing Thailand, Amazing Value and Confidence in Thailand", given to about 500 participants in Beijing, Abhisit said nearly 1 million tourists from China visited Thailand annually. However, Thailand has experienced a drop in the number of tourists in recent months, due to a 20-per-cent drop in global travel.

"To boost our tourism industry, we have undertaken several actions, such as waiving visa fees from March to June, and we are now in the process of extending the waiver until March 2010," he said.

Moreover, the Cabinet has also approved a scheme to provide travel insurance for foreign tourists, in case of an unexpected event like the political rally in April, Abhisit said.

He said Thailand was the right destination for investors.

"Despite the economic downturn, which caused many firms - even big ones - to close down or lay off their employees, General Motors has opted to expand its plant in Thailand and make it a hub for the Southeast Asian market," he said.

To instil Chinese confidence in Thailand, he said he set two priorities after taking office six months ago. One is to achieve reconciliation in the country, and the other is to lead it out of the economic crisis.

On the first day of the prime |minister's visit to China, Thailand signed an agreement to expand and deepen bilateral economic and trade cooperation with the Chinese government.

Among other provisions, the agreement will allow Thai operators to increase their exports of fruit to some provinces in China.

Both countries are keeping to their targets of boosting the value of bilateral trade to US$50 billion (Bt1.71 trillion) by next year, boosting investment in each other's economies to $6.5 billion and increasing the number of tourists between the two countries to 4 million annually.