Bangkok, April 18 -- Tourism operators in Thailand are urging the government to adopt clearer policies to ease mounting debt burdens and enhance the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) amid rising costs driven by the global energy crisis.

Adith Chairattananon, honorary secretary-general of the Association of Thai Travel Agents, said that existing support measures, including subsidies under the latest phase of the Khon La Khrueng Plus co-payment scheme, are insufficient to sustain growth in the context of ongoing tensions in the Middle East.

People can now buy fewer goods or smaller baskets with the same amount of money compared to last year as energy crisis has pushed up logistics, energy and product costs, redu...