Aviation can boost tourism
Professor Dr Kriengsak Chareonwongsak
Executive Director, Institute of Future Studies for Development (IFD)
kriengsak@kriengsak.com, http://www.ifd.or.th
This article was first published in The Bangkok Post in April 21, 2002 during a time when the Thai economy was in a stage of slowing down. The author of the article proposed some directions for improving commercial aviation; seemingly a small matter, which had been neglected. However, commercial aviation could be a great support to tourism without much investment.
Last year (2001), Thailand’s economic growth was only slight at 1.5% of GDP, which in itself created many challenges, and compelled the government to put greater effort into policies that would increase growth in the economy. Each economic impetus though faces many constraints, such as private consumption, which is currently saturated. The proportion of consumption for the first nine months of 2001 was 54.69% of GDP – similar to the 54.21% in 1996 before the economic crisis. This kind of situation hinders the stimulation of consumption, as there is increased unemployment and a slowdown of potential expenditure by the country.
Professor Dr Kriengsak Chareonwongsak
Executive Director, Institute of Future Studies for Development (IFD)
kriengsak@kriengsak.com, http://www.ifd.or.th
This article was first published in The Bangkok Post in April 21, 2002 during a time when the Thai economy was in a stage of slowing down. The author of the article proposed some directions for improving commercial aviation; seemingly a small matter, which had been neglected. However, commercial aviation could be a great support to tourism without much investment.
Last year (2001), Thailand’s economic growth was only slight at 1.5% of GDP, which in itself created many challenges, and compelled the government to put greater effort into policies that would increase growth in the economy. Each economic impetus though faces many constraints, such as private consumption, which is currently saturated. The proportion of consumption for the first nine months of 2001 was 54.69% of GDP – similar to the 54.21% in 1996 before the economic crisis. This kind of situation hinders the stimulation of consumption, as there is increased unemployment and a slowdown of potential expenditure by the country.
Since Government expenditure has been used as the main mechanism of economic stimulation over the past three years it is now constrained by a public debt of 60%. Exportation expanded slightly due to pressure from the WTO’s inclusion of China and Taiwan whose membership affected many Thai export items. If we consider the constant rise of imports as seen in the first nine months of 2001 (44.1% of GDP), this trend could rise even higher to 49.12% of GDP, which is the pre-crisis figure.
