A plea has been lodged by the Tourism Association of Phatthalung to the government, urging for the elimination of restrictions that prevent Malaysian buses from entering Thailand‘s southern provinces. The goal is to revitalise local tourism, at present experiencing a lull due to these limitations.
Jarun Kaewjeesub, the president of the Tourism Association of Phatthalung, declared that a separate letter might be delivered directly to Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin and Minister of Tourism and Sports Sudawan Wangsupakitkosol during their imminent inspection tour of the South.
The association’s open letter centres on a request for the prime minister to contemplate the revocation of an order that curtails the entry of foreign buses, predominantly from Malaysia, into the southern province of Songkhla.
This order, issued on July 18, 2014, by the now-disbanded National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), stipulates that overseas bus operators intending to go to areas exterior the province must submit their passenger and bus particulars to the Songkhla Provincial Land Transport Office beforehand, reported Bangkok Post.
Furthermore, Exclusive permits overseas buses to enter Songkhla only if they are carrying vacationers. Those with out passengers are prohibited from crossing the border into Thailand.
According to the open letter, this order has negatively impacted native tourism within the southern region. The inability of Malaysian tourist buses to freely navigate to provinces neighbouring Songkhla, together with Phatthalung, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Trang, Satun, Phuket, Krabi, Phangnga, and Surat Thani, has led to a severe lower in vacationer numbers.
Jarun noted that since 2014, arrivals from Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia have significantly dwindled, resulting within the region shedding tons of of tens of millions of baht annually.
In addition, the Tourism Association has requested the Immigration Bureau to provide extra TM 6 immigration forms to tour groups.
Currently, every tour group is allotted 9-10 forms, which is inadequate as a single tour group can often comprise over a hundred vacationers. Despite discussions with numerous businesses, little to no progress has been reported, Jarun revealed.
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