Monporn” reveals “Port Authority” adjusts the Ministry’s announcement to set criteria and conditions for granting permission to cruise ships and large sports boats to be modern – create more income – support Thailand as a water tourism hub in the Asian region.
Mrs. Manop Charoensri, Deputy Minister of Transport, revealed that the Marine Department has revised the announcement of the Ministry of Transport on the criteria, methods and conditions for granting permission to large cruise and sports boats (Super Yacht) of persons who do not have the characteristics to own Thai boats to trade in Thai waters, according to Section 47 bis of the Thai Ship Act B.E. 2481, to support the national strategy and policy of the Ministry of Transport that promotes the business of large cruise and sports boats (Super Yacht), creates tourism diversity, makes Thailand an important destination for world-class tourism, attracts tourists of all levels and increases the proportion of high-quality tourists, generates income from tour
ism and stimulates the country’s economy, in addition to Phuket Province having a strategy that is prominent as a world-class maritime tourism hub.
In the past, it has been enforced for a considerable period of time, from August 10, 2015 to the present (September 2024), a total period of 9 years. Therefore, there is a policy to revise the announcement of the Ministry of Transport on the matter to be consistent with the current situation, promoting the marine tourism business. Currently, there are still not enough Thai boats for large cruise and sports ships (Super Yachts) to meet the demand.
Mr. Kritphet Chaiyue, Director-General of the Marine Department, said that for the improvement of the announcement on this matter, the size of large cruise and sports boats (Super Yachts) has been adjusted from the original length of 30 meters and over, carrying no more than 12 passengers, to a size of 24 meters and over, carrying no more than 12 passengers, in line with international standards. The insurance policy has
been set to be appropriate and comprehensive according to the standards and principles of marine insurance, with a coverage amount of no less than 5 million US dollars per incident, or approximately 171 million baht per incident. The application for permission can be done through the electronic service system and the supporting documents can be used in both Thai and English. The time frame for consideration of permission has also been set to be within 25 working days.
However, allowing large cruise and sports ships (Super Yachts) to trade in Thai waters will increase tourism capacity, support Thailand to become the center of water tourism and cruise ships in Asia (Marina Hub Of Asia) according to government policy, stimulate investment in related businesses, help generate income for the country by visiting, renting docks, hiring for ship maintenance, using hotels, restaurants, food stores, etc., including creating jobs for local people, such as hiring captains and crew to take care of ships, hiring ship repa
irmen, and helping develop professional knowledge about ship repair and being a ship captain, promoting the government to have income from value-added tax for domestic spending, as well as tourism by wealthy foreign tourists, with superyachts wanting to visit the Asian region, resulting in a high amount of money spent by this group of tourists.
Source: Thai News Agency