CHIANG RAI – The Ministry of Tourism and Sports is pushing ahead with its plan to strengthen tourism cooperation within the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS), with Chiang Rai province poised to be the gateway to the region.
The ministry’s tourism department director general, Supol Sripan, said as part of the 29th GMS Tourism Working Group Meeting (TWG 29), six member states of the Greater Mekong Sub-region, namely Cambodia, China (specifically Yunnan and Guangxi), Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam are set to expand multilateral infrastructure development and socio-economic cooperation in the region.
Mr Supol noted that this collaborative approach on transportation, telecommunications, energy and agricultural development has allowed the project’s joint development partner, Asia Development Bank, to provide guidance and ensure coordination with other international organizations and governments.
The group meeting’s emphasis, Mr Supol said, will be on tourism-related human resource development, promotion of sustainable tourism as well as sub-regional marketing and product development in the global marketplace.
With an aim to promote the GMS as a single tourist destination, the director-general elaborated that the TWG29 is expected to identify investment and business partnership opportunities between tourism operators within the regional sector.
The TWG 29 will be held in conjunction with the Mekong Tourism Forum 2012 at Dusit Island resort in Chiang Rai.
