Safety fears, not casinos, keeping Chinese away, argues Paetongtarn
Ms Paetongtarn on Wednesday responded to Bhumjaithai Party leader Anutin Charnvirakul's allegation that the sharp decline in Chinese visitors resulted from her ignorance of Chinese President Xi's repeated advice against the legalisation of casinos in Thailand.
Ms Paetongtarn, now the minister for culture, said that during her recent visit to China, President Xi gave only advice about her policy to develop entertainment complexes that would include legal casinos.
She quoted President Xi as saying he did not like casinos and he paid attention to Chinese people who visited countries where there were legal casinos.
The Chinese president did not mention any revised measures involving the casino policy and confirmed he did not order any restriction on Chinese travel in relation to the issue, Ms Paetongtarn said.
Ms Paetongtarn said she informed the Chinese president that casinos would occupy only 10% of the floor area of the entertainment complexes.
The Thai government had decided on the policy after seeing the successful development of casinos in China's Macau and in Singapore.
The suspended prime minister said that Chinese arrivals declined because of safety fears - a matter which concerned the Interior Ministry and she wondered if Mr Anutin, as former interior minister, forgot about that.
China also encouraged its people to holiday within their own borders, she said, also pointing out that this was currently the low season for tourism in Thailand.
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