Thai tourism minister: I trust the Philippines

Thailand’s tourism minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul speaks during the UNWTO conference in Manila. (Screenshot from UNWTO)

“I have my full trust in the Philippines.”

Thus said Thailand’s tourism minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul when asked to define sustainable tourism during a ministerial roundtable forum at the United Nation World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) conference on statistics in Manila.

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“Sustainable [tourism] is the balance between the income and the local community and the environment. To me what is more important is the people,” Wattanavrangkul said during the roundtable discussion.

Tourism ministers tackled the importance of a statistics framework that would consolidate credible travel data.

“I’m here not only because of statistics. I need to say this. I’m here because I have trust,” she said.

This year’s UNWTO conference focuses on measuring sustainable tourism. The year 2017 has been declared as the International Tourism Sustainability for Development.

“Sometimes figures give you many things, but not everything. I am here to say that I have full trust in the Philippines,” she added.

Bangkok is one of the busiest travel destinations in the world, making Thailand the top 3 destination in Southeast Asia, according to the 2017 World Economic Forum travel and tourism competitiveness report.

The Philippines, which received a poor rating on safety and security, ranks only seventh. JPV