BANGKOK – The Ministry of Tourism and Sports (MOTS) has introduced the rebranding of the eastern region as a venue for sports and tourism to help raise incomes in local areas.
Tourism and Sports Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul said the MOTS plans to promote the new concept of tourism in the eastern region to combine sports and tourism, which will contribute to the development of the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) project.
Sports and tourism activities will be held during 15-19 November 2017, while the Air Race 1 World Cup 2017 will take place sometime this year at U-tapao airport, which will be the first time in Asia.
The air race would promote aviation and engineering industry in Thailand and distribute income to the country, she said.
She said the eastern seashore cluster receives the most income from tourism-related activities by 43.4 billion baht in the first half of 2017, mostly from Thai tourists’ spendings attending activities and fairs such as food and fruits fairs which helped distribute incomes to farmers and local villagers.
Thai tourism scene in the first half of 2017 has seen an increase in the number of visitors and revenue. The country has welcomed 20.44 million visitors who generated 1.03 trillion baht in tourism-related incomes. Those figures represented a 4.62 percent and 6.10 percent growth from the same period last year respectively.
