The Tourism and Sports Ministry has outlined new tourism safety guidelines to beef up confidence among tourists.
The set of safety rules cover four areas: accidents; life and property protection, which includes crimes and overcharging; sanitation; and uncontrollable situations such as natural disasters and riots, said Anan Wongbenjarat, deputy permanent tourism secretary.
He said drafted guidelines will be tabled for the National Tourism Policy Committee before seeking approval from the cabinet.
The new safety guidelines will empower competent state agencies in tourism areas, such as the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, Fine Arts and Royal Forest departments, to handle all cases.
The hope is that these safety plans will get the nod from the cabinet and be implemented some time later this year.
Mr Anan said that besides having new safety rules, the ministry is seeking cabinet approval for plans to link transport systems with tourism destinations.
If the plans are approved, the Transport Ministry will take a leading role in building infrastructure to connect transport systems such as airports, piers and buses with tourism sites.
The logistics system to reach tourism destinations remains poor. For example, there is no public transport to the dinosaur museum in Udon Thani, turning visitors to other places.
In this case, a hop-on-hop-off bus service would enable tourists to reach the destination.
Mr Anan said the ministry is considering introducing 16 must-have checklists for tourism sites and local communities.
The 16 must-have facilities include car parking, bus stops for both public and logistics services, public toilets, WiFi, garbage and environmental management, and tourism services for all types of tourists.
The other items are tourist service points, city gates, directional signs in communities, demonstration and community learning centres, local cuisine, free water areas, homestays, shaded areas and lighting, and walking jungle paths.
