THAILAND’S TOURISM SATELLITE ACCOUNT GETS GREEN LIGHT

Bangkok, Thailand, Jun 2, 2000-- Thailand’s economic ministers recently approved a five-year, 26-million-baht plan to develop a Tourism Satellite Account which will allow economic policy-makers to better understand the precise earnings and job-creation contribution of tourism.
Unlike other foreign exchange earning industries, evaluating precisely how much the tourism industry benefits each country’s economy is difficult. While expenditure surveys can pinpoint how much money visitors spend, the ‘trickle-down’ effect into national economies has been difficult to measure.
Like local people, visitors use taxis and public transport, make phone calls, eat local food, patronise movie theatres, tailor shops, handicraft centres and indulge in a number of recreational activities that generate jobs and revenues for thousands of companies, especially small and medium sized enterprises.
Thus, tourism indirectly supports different sectors such as energy, agriculture, telecommunications, health and education. The Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) will help precisely identify both the direct and indirect contribution to the country’s economy and systematically evaluate its true economic advantages.
Initiated by the United Nations in 1993, the TSA has been facilitated by the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) and is now being implemented by tourist countries worldwide.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand Governor Pradech Phayakvichien commented, “The existing collection of data and statistics by TAT alone is not sufficient to identify the true economic value of this industry. We are confident that the TSA will help us do this and help us more efficiently and effectively develop our future growth strategies.”
The 26-million-baht budget specially allocated by the economic ministers will be spent on conducting extensive studies and surveys to gather more comprehensive tourism information and statistics about visitors’ expenditure patterns, the impact of tourism on other industries, tourism investment by the public and private sectors, as well as governmental expenditures for tourism promotion.
Three major task forces including an organising committee, a working group and a technical advisory group will be appointed to oversee the implementation of the TSA and ensure that it is proceeding along the correct lines

The organising committee and working group will consist of representatives from the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB), the Budget Bureau, TAT and other governmental organisations. Experts from international organisations will join the technical advisory group.
The three bodies will regularly report the progress of the project directly to the TAT’s Board of Directors.
TAT is now in what is known as the third phase of the project. The first phase, conducted in 1999 as part of the elaborate build-up to the TSA, was a fundamental study of the economic impact of tourism by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) based on the then-available information and statistics.
That was followed by the second phase, a TSA seminar/workshop organised by the WTO in Bangkok in July 1999 to explain to Thai industry experts the emerging concept of the TSA and how to set- up, operate and manage it.
About 50 representatives from the NESDB, the Budget Bureau, the National Statistical Office, the Revenue Department, the Bank of Thailand, THAI Airways International, the Customs Department, the Department of Land Transport and the Harbour Department and various other important branches of the Thai tourism industry participated in the workshop.
Governor Pradech explained that one of the major advantages of the TSA was that it would provide information that is comparable across countries, just like other national economic indicators like the GNP, current accounts and trade deficits.
“We will be able to compare our tourism industry with those of countries in Southeast Asia or South America because all the basic accounting and calculation standards will be the same.”
“I am very glad that this is coming to fruition at a time when TAT is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Tourism has come a long way in these 40 years and has also played a clear part in facilitating the national economic recovery.”
“I think it will be good for the entire industry if we can underscore this with some specific figures and hence build a case with our policy-makers on what needs to be done to help it flourish even more in future,” the Governor said.