THE Department of Tourism has stepped up its strategy to boost community-based tourism in a bid to improve the country's competitiveness in the international travel market especially with the approach of the Asean Economic Community (AEC).

The strategy involves in-depth studies of consumer behaviour, development of appropriate marketing approaches, product and service development, tourism management, and organisation development in order to promote sustainable tourism growth in selected local communities.

Wanasiri Morakul, acting director-general of the Tourism Department, said it was getting Thailand ready to integrate fully with the AEC bloc. The department's Bureau of Tourist Attraction Development has been organising a series of seminars to improve competitiveness of Thailand's community-based attractions. The seminars were provided for around 200 representatives of a community-based tourism network from four regions of Thailand - the North, the Northeast, the Central region, and the South.

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