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Thailand takes the lead
(this article originally appeared as a part of Crown Jewels of the Greater Mekong Region)
Thailand assumed the lead at the first Mekong Tourism Forum held in Pattaya--offering to establish a permanent secretariat to coordinate and implement tourism projects of six countries in the Greater Mekong region.
The proposal was made by Seree Wangpaichitr, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, at the Mekong Tourism Forum. He offered the full backup and financial support of his agency after a working group of representatives from the six member countries agreed in principle with Thailand's initiative.
The Greater Mekong comprises six countries along the Mekong river: China, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand. The proposed secretariat, to be called AMTA (Agency for Coordinating Mekong Tourism Activities), will undertake specific permanent projects of the tourism grouping such as the Mekong Tourism Fair and the Mekong Tourism Forum. AMTA will also tackle the increasing problem of a lack of tourism personnel in the member countries. Mr. Seree said a permanent secretariat would help Mekong tourism and plans to assist in collaboration with international agencies such as ESCAP, ADB, Pata.
For human resources development, TAT proposed to use its existing Hotel and Tourism Training Institute in Bang Saen as the regional training center for the member countries. "TAT can play a major role in promoting the Mekong region because it is already part of Thailand's overall tourism development strategy. With TAT's 17 overseas offices world-wide, the network can be used for marketing tourism products and promoting the Mekong region," he said.