{"id":777028051,"date":"2025-06-19T09:03:44","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T12:03:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777028051"},"modified":"2026-04-21T21:44:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T00:44:29","slug":"thai-tourism-trade-asks-the-government-to-take-careful-steps-related-to-casino-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/thai-tourism-trade-asks-the-government-to-take-careful-steps-related-to-casino-bill","title":{"rendered":"Thai tourism industry joins calls for referendum on casino bill"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Thai Hotels Association and the Association of Thai Travel Agents advise against fast-tracking the proposed legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Thailand.- The tourism sector is calling on the Thai government to take time in reviewing proposed <a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/thai-fiscal-policy-office-issues-12-point-statement-backing-casino-bill\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">casino legalisation<\/a>. The Thai Hotels Association and the Association of Thai Travel Agents have raised concerns over potential public backlash amid increasing political tension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the Bangkok Post, <strong>Thienprasit Chaiyapatranun<\/strong>, president of the Thai Hotels Association, believes that proceeding without public consultation may intensify opposition to casinos. He has joined calls for a <a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/petition-from-civil-society-groups-calls-to-hold-a-referendum-on-thai-casino-legalisation\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/petition-from-civil-society-groups-calls-to-hold-a-referendum-on-thai-casino-legalisation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">referendum<\/a> if the legislation moves forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf the government decides to rush this project, they should let the public voice their opinion via a referendum,&#8221; he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He noted that the tourism sector has faced disruption due to three new tourism and sports ministers in the past three cabinet reshuffles and that even if issues are resolved with former <a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/thailand-casino-bill-faces-uncertain-future-amid-political-turmoil\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/thailand-casino-bill-faces-uncertain-future-amid-political-turmoil\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">coalition partner<\/a>, the Bhumjaithai Party, the government might be dissolved before its four-year term. As such, the industry is more concerned with economic and regional stability than the rapid advance of contentious legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Bangkok Post also reported that <strong>Sisdivachr Cheewarattanaporn<\/strong>, an advisory chairman at the <strong>Association of Thai Travel Agents<\/strong>, said the political situation has weakened economic confidence. He said: &#8220;We are dealing with more serious issues, such as the border dispute <a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/thai-casino-workers-banned-from-crossing-border-into-cambodian-city\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">with Cambodia<\/a>. Yet the government still wants to spend time on internal political conflicts rather than the national interest.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"see-also-container\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"see-also-label\">See also:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"related-article\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"related-article__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/06\/photo-1517232115160-ff93364542dd-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"related-article__text\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"see-also-label-strong\">See also:<\/span> <a href='https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/petition-from-civil-society-groups-calls-to-hold-a-referendum-on-thai-casino-legalisation'>Petition calls for referendum on Thai casino legalisation<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Thai Hotels Association and the Association of Thai Travel Agents advise against fast-tracking the proposed legislation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":226,"featured_media":15796,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Thai tourism sector, through the Thai Hotels Association and the Association of Thai Travel Agents, advises against fast-tracking proposed casino legalization. Citing political instability and the need for public consultation, they advocate for a referendum if the legislation proceeds, prioritizing economic and regional stability over rapid advancement of contentious laws.","focusai_entities":"Thai Hotels Association, Association of Thai Travel Agents, Bangkok Post, Thienprasit Chaiyapatranun, Bhumjaithai Party, Sisdivachr Cheewarattanaporn","focusai_location":"Thailand, Cambodia","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.95), regulator (0.9), compliance_legal (0.85), operator_casino (0.95), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (0.85)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Governance Frameworks Impact","query":"What specific governance frameworks are being considered for the proposed Thai gaming market, and how might public consultation influence their structure and implementation?"},{"label":"Licensing Timeline Impact","query":"How do the current political tensions and calls for a referendum impact the projected timeline for B2B\/B2C licensing and regulatory compliance in Thailand?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,16333],"tags":[29,24798,342],"class_list":["post-777028051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legislation-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-casino","tag-referendum","tag-thailand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777028051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/226"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777028051"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777028051\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777028056,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777028051\/revisions\/777028056"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777028051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777028051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777028051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}