Use the tourism fund ethically

Thailand is no stranger to superlatives. Some of them do not engender pride, such as being among the top three nations with the highest number of coups; but a few others, such as having the most visited capital city in the world, make everyone beam with pride.

Yet the resumption of international tourism, which is kicking into higher gear with the reopening of China’s borders last week, is threatening to add a new label to Thailand’s list of distinctions — the biggest loser.

About a week before Beijing moved to scrap its Covid quarantine requirements for international in- and outbound travellers, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) revised its tourism estimates for this year.

It is now expecting around five million travellers from China to arrive until the end of the year,…