The Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT) is calling for the government to help revive the struggling tourism industry immediately, grant long-term debt moratoria, and cut power bills for a year.
Chamnan Srisawat, vice president of the council, said that they are to propose that the government ease their financial stress, minimise their expenditure, train workers in new skills and seek more market opportunity to get through the current crisis.
Mr Srisawat said the finance institutions can help borrowers reduce their financial burdens by deferring principal and interest repayment for 6 months to 1 year, or until the situation is better.
He also proposed that the minimum electricity charge for medium-to-large business be scrapped until the end of this year, and co-pay for new graduate employees be started.
The council is also asking the government to come up with programs aimed at expanding the skills of tourism workers, to help them earn extra income, and to continue its domestic tourism campaign.
Mr Srisawat also said there should be a specific marketplace to serve domestic tourism, which the council is ready to oversee. Such a marketplace would be a one-stop channel for people to find all kinds of information related to travel in Thailand.
