Mr. Yuthasak Supasorn, governor of Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), said the project on tourism route development to follow the royal wisdom is being organized in remembrance of His Majesty King Bhumibol and to continue his wisdom through community tourism development under the "Local Experience" concept. Travel with learning is impressive and supports income distribution to local communities, which will then sustainably develop the Thai tourism industry. The "tourism route development to follow the royal wisdom" project will present attractive tourism routes, which are linked with royal projects initiated by the late King Bhumibol to solve environmental problems from water resources, soil, to forest. This tourism project will also disseminate and follow his royal wisdom on Sufficiency Economy.
Currently, there are more than 4,700 royal projects nationwide, where Thai people can learn from the late King Bhumibol's life works and apply with their daily lives and create new careers for community people. Several tourism destinations are very beautiful and attractive, showing the charming Thai culture and the opportunity of Thai tourism to welcome tourists from around the world. Under this tourism project, five pilot tourism routes in five regions are designed to follow the royal wisdom and link with royal projects in each province. Backed by the story related to the royal projects, the five tourism destinations and tourism routes will be more interesting and there are many types of tourism destinations from OTOP villages, arts and craft centers, to trade centers.
TAT will invite ambassadors and diplomats from many countries to join a trip to learn local experiences and community tourism. They will be impressed with local culture in the five mentioned tourism routes and truly understand the link of tourism development and royal projects. The five pilot tourism routes are as following;
- The "follow the royal wisdom in Chiang Mai" route comprises the Vichaya farm and Ban Rai Gong Khing Community in Chiang Mai.
- The "follow the royal wisdom in Buriram" route comprises the improvement of Ton Lam Pa Tia Reservoir and Ban Khok Muang Community in Buriram.
- The "follow the royal wisdom in Ratchaburi-Nakhon Pathom" route includes the 1-rai project to solve poverty under the Sufficiency Economy concept in the military learning center in Ratchburi and Ban Sala Din Community in Nakhon Pathom.
- The "follow the royal wisdom in Rayong" route comprises the Pluak Daeng Development and Service Center under the royal initiative and Pak Nam Pra Sae Community in Rayong.
- The "follow the royal wisdom in Nakhon Si Thammarat" route includes the Pak Panang River Basin Development project and Ban Laem Home Stay Community in Nakhon Si Thammarat.
Meanwhile, TAT will have various marketing activities to promote the "tourism route development to follow the royal wisdom" project via online channel under the "Travel to Follow the Royal Wisdom" activity. It will open for general people to vote for their favorite tourism routes from five short videos via www.tourismthailand.org/kingwisdom during Aug 6-31, 2018. Winners will be announced on Sept 7, 2018, and they will receive the tour packages to follow the royal wisdom.
"The tourism route development to follow the royal wisdom project is one among the policy to promote tourism along with community development, natural protection and culture conservation. They will be new alternatives for tourist destinations and tourists will be encouraged to respect and understand community people. TAT will expand this tourism project to cover more routes and communities in the future," Mr. Yuthasak said.
TAT is confident that the "tourism route development to follow the royal wisdom" project will attract more tourists to visit local communities, promote new tourism routes and promote income distribution to communities. It expects tourism incomes in these new tourism routes will grow at least 20%.