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As a major gateway, Thailand looks to
improve its access to its neighbours. We look at two recent
examples of policy favoring the country as a gateway to the rest of
Southeast Asia. The opening of a new official border checkpoint
between Kelantan and Southern Thailand on December 21 is unlikely
to make both regions cooperating more in terms of tourism, as
violence continues to plague Thailand's three Muslim-dominated
Southern provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala.
Despite unabated violence in Southern
Thailand and now massive flooding in the region, Malaysia and
Thailand hope to give a strong signal of their commitment to
enhance their cooperation with the opening of a new bridge between
the districts of Jeli (Kelantan, Malaysia) and Waeng (Narathiwat
province) this coming Thursday. The new bridge will then become the
third official international checkpoint between both countries and
complement the existing border checkpoints in Rantau Panjang/Sungei
Kolok as well as in Pengkalan Kubor/Tak Bai.
Attempts were made a decade ago to develop
some common heritage and cultural products, especially by favoring
religious tourism. Sultanate of Pattani is home to one of the most
famous Buddhist Chinese temple, a highly veneered site among
Singaporean and Malaysian Chinese. But above all, Pattani occupies
a special place in Malay’s psyche. It used to be the
spiritual center of Malay culture with universities and religious
schools. It is also there that the Koran was translated into Malay
language for the first time. The once-mighty sultanate has also the
oldest mosque in the region, the Kru Se Mosque.
But little contacts exist today in
tourism. “It is almost impossible to encourage tourism in
Southern Thailand because of the daily violence,” explained
outgoing Tourism Minister Suvit Yodmani. “We can only try to
promote local tourism with some sport events between the Youth
living in the three provinces.”
On the Kelantan side, Haji Mohd Arif,
manager of the state’s Information Center, confesses that he
had no contact for a long time. Looking at the number of Thai and
Malaysian crossing each other borders, it is true that tourist
flows look to only going one way: in 2006, Kelantan recorded
800,000 arrivals from Thai citizens. And in 2007, the number is up
by 100 percent with total arrivals expected to reach 1.6 million.
However, foreign tourism to Southern Thailand is collapsing. A bomb
explosion two years ago in the border town of Sungei Kolok, a very
popular “entertainment” destination, sent jitters among
Malaysian travelers, which represent 90 percent of all arrivals. In
2006, total arrivals to Sungei Kolok declined by 20.4 percent to
236,000 with Malaysians representing alone 203,000 visitors.
Kelantan has launched a comprehensive plan
for tourism development including the set-up of integrated tourism
resorts. A first small-scale resort exists already in Pantai Sri
Tujoh, just three kilometers away from the border to Thailand in
Pengkalan Kubor. A vast project foresees the development in Tumpat,
where Kelantan’s largest Thai community lives.
“We are looking now for partners but
this project is the most ambitious to date as it will integrate
deluxe hotels, a marina, a shopping centre and a cultural
village,” said Haji Mohd Arif. In 2008, Kelantan will launch
its “visit year” campaign, hoping to bring more
awareness to the destination, which remains rather a transit point
for many travelers. “Our objective is to increase the total
length of stay to three nights from 1.7 today. We will increase our
promotion at international shows such as ITB and WTM and will
receive a budget of US$ 550,000, up by 70 percent over 2007. We
target 1.2 real tourists by next year with an emphasis on
travellers from the UK, Germany and the Middle East,” added
Arif.
Kelantan’s objective is for it to be
more perceived as an authentic destination where visitors will be
able to get a glimpse of Malay life through handicraft, culture and
cuisine.
Meanwhile, it took two years of
negotiations since the announcement to implement a common visa
valid for both Thailand and Cambodia; there was not a lot to be
heard about progress between both countries. Late last week,
Thailand’s foreign affairs minister finally went to Phnom
Penh to sign with its Cambodian counterpart the agreement for the
implementation of the common visa. Cambodia/Thailand common visa
will then be available to travelers from the first quarter of 2008
with modalities on the price set up and about the validity of the
visa.
Such an initiative will, however, only be
of limited interest for all countries already benefiting of the
free visa-on-arrival facility to Thailand. The price for a double
Cambodia/Thailand visa will undoubtly be higher than a single visa
to Cambodia, currently available for US$20. Why would then
travelers pay more? The new visa would only be of any benefit for
travelers who are still requested to get a Thai visa or for
long-stay travelers in Thailand, as the visa on arrival is valid
only for a month. Long-stay travelers can for the time being
receive a single visa valid for three months which expires once
tourists leave the kingdom. The new visa could then provide the
possibility to stay longer and then re-enter Thailand without
asking for a new single visa. Details should be provided by next
month, once the new-elected Thai government will be in place.
The visa is an initiative within the
Mekong Sub-region. If the formula proves successful, the common
visa could then be expanded step by step to Laos, Vietnam and
Myanmar. Then, such a multi-country visa would gain a broad
interest from foreign travellers.
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