Kobsak: 3% GDP growth achievable

Kobsak: 3% GDP growth achievable

Tourism, stimulus measures expected to boost economic development

The government is maintaining its target for GDP growth of 3% this year, with a series of additional stimulus measures expected to boost the economy.

Kobsak Pootrakool, deputy secretary-general to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha for political affairs, held a subcommittee meeting yesterday to monitor economic development.

He said the meeting's assessment of figures in the second quarter and the first two months of the third quarter lead it to believe that 3% is achievable.

"The tourism sector will be the main driver of the economy this year, while we expect a slowdown in the export sector," Mr Kobsak said.

The tourism sector is expected to reach its target of boosting arrivals to 20 million in the second half.

Mr Kobsak said that in the first eight months of 2019 there were 26.5 million visitors, generating 1.29 trillion baht in revenue, up 2.9% year-on-year.

The figures for August showed 3.47 million visitors.

"Normally the fourth quarter is the high season for tourism," Mr Kobsak said. "The government expects 14 million visitors in the remaining four months of the year, pushing foreign visitors to 40.5 million for the year."

The Tourism and Sports Ministry aims for 39.8 million foreign visitors, generating 2.04 trillion baht in revenue.

In the first eight months of the year, Chinese tourists generated 382 billion baht, up 1.6% compared with the same period last year; Malaysian visitors generated 67 billion baht, up 9%; Russians accounted for 62 billion baht, down 4.3%; Japanese tourists generated 58 billion baht, up 13.4%; while Indians contributed 55 billion baht, up 31.2%.

Mr Kobsak said the economic cabinet, meeting Oct 11, will consider tourism measures to boost foreign visitors and additional measures to increase tourist spending, such as organising a Thailand Grand Sale festival.

The government will introduce QR codes in immigration procedures to better serve foreign visitors.

Tourism permanent secretary Chote Trachu said the Tourism and Sports Ministry proposed a plan to the economic cabinet to waive the value-added tax for Thai tour operators who operate services for inbound tourists.

He said the government will make it easier for the several hundred thousand expatriates to travel nationwide without reporting to the Thai authorities as required in Section 37 of the 1979 Immigration Act, also known as TM30.

The rule currently requires foreigners with long-term visas to report within 24 hours to Thai authorities when they travel to other provinces that are not their residence.

Expatriates are also required to report their whereabouts every 90 days to authorities.

Other measures include free re-entry visas for foreign tourists who visit neighbouring countries by land transport.

Mr Kobsak said the Thailand Grand Sale festival will start Nov 1, the day of a summit meeting of Asean leaders. Visitors from Asean nations can enjoy a 10% discount at department stores.

Mr Kobsak said the farm sector showed better trends in price and production in September, up 2% and 4% respectively.

But some crops still have low prices, such as rubber and palm, so the government needs to look at measures to prop up their prices.

Mr Kobsak said the Finance Ministry is expected to introduce additional stimulus measures to boost the economy and private consumption.

The Bank of Thailand reported 2.2% year-on-year growth in private consumption in August, down from 2.8% in July.

Private consumption in the second quarter was 3.2%, compared with 4.3% in the first quarter.

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