Bangkok Post Property Column.

Byline: Liakat Dhanji

Oct. 3--I have been predicting privately for the last year that we live in dangerous times, and to survive and prosper we must be cautious and at the same time take extraordinary measures, whether to safeguard citizens' welfare or provide retraining and a safety net for those who lose jobs due to factors beyond their control.

The last article illustrated the example of two cities that successfully weathered a real-estate collapse similar to that Thailand has been experiencing recently. This article will deal more specifically with the measures that I think will help us not only pull out of this crisis but also strengthen our global competitive position.

The government has rightly targeted tourism as a primary driver in ensuring that economic growth can be maintained, and at the same time trying to clean up the image of Thailand as being a haven for sex and drugs. This is a worthwhile goal. However, the strategies being used to achieve it, in my opinion, could be improved on so that the effects are more permanent

Thailand is a one-city country, and for most new tourists Bangkok is the first point of entry, just as it is in many countries. Visitors' impressions of the country are largely formed from initial encounters. Unfortunately, one of the impressions, though by no means the only one, that tourists have of this city is one of cheap drugs, sex, massage parlours and counterfeit goods.

Even as a resident there is little to do on a weekend other than to go golfing or shopping, which are luxuries affordable to only a few. If the government decides to clean up the image of the city, and I agree it should, then it must develop a viable alternative for the thousands who will lose their jobs and the tourists who have lost one reason to come here. One alternative is as follows:

Thailand has one great asset (among many): its people. At a grass-roots level these are the most generous, friendly and kind people one could find anywhere. What the government needs to do is to increase the contact of tourists with the local people but in a non-exploitative way and utilising skills that they have already acquired. I will illustrate one example of what I mean: spas.