Tourism Authority of Thailand Governor Suraphon Svetasreni has emphasised a major challenge facing tourism.
Speaking to journalists and industry representatives he said, "If the first 50 years of tourism development were focussed largely on maximising the economic returns, the next 50 years will require an equivalent focus on minimising the ecological impact."
The Governor added, "Over the past 50 years the TAT has worked hard to enhance the prosperity of Thailand's tourism industry. Today, Thailand remains one of the world's most popular tourist destinations, well-regarded for the quality and variety of its tourist attractions, a premier shopping venue and value-for-money products and services. Visitor arrivals have grown from only 81,000 visitors in 1960 to 14 million in 2009. This year, TAT is expecting 15 to 15.5 million arrivals, with a target expenditure of 12.7 billion Euros.

"Tourism today plays a major role in Thailand's socio-economic development. Billions of dollars worth of investment have poured into the industry which employs about three million people in direct and indirect jobs nationwide. Tourism revenue is still a major source of foreign exchange income compared with the overall income from the export of goods and services."
He added, "The spectacular growth in tourism has contributed to the sustainable development of numerous communities and tourism attractions nationwide. It has spurred domestic tourism, the revival of traditional festivals and given rise to countless tourism-related activities."
Thailand began officially promoting both inbound travel and domestic tourism with the establishment of the Tourism Organization of Thailand (TOT) as an independent agency within the Royal Thai Government on 18 March 1960. One of TOT's founding objectives was to inform Thai people of the potential importance of tourism to the nation. The national tourism organization was renamed the Tourism Authority of Thailand in 1979 and has been instrumental in putting Thailand on the world tourism map.
Photo shows the Centara Grand Beach Resort, Samui