Tourist dollars shouldn't trump right to clean air

Bangkok has made the list of the world's 100 best cities -- again.

The ranking, released by Resonance Consultancy, saw Bangkok climb several notches from last year's 74 to 58. The evaluation is made according to six criteria, including airport connectivity; arts, culture and the culinary scene; and recommendations shared online. Bangkok's street food, despite being targeted repeatedly by City Hall crackdowns, placed an impressive 18th among attractions. The city finally relented in the face of public pressure recently and made a U-turn on its street food ban.

London, New York and Paris -- cosmopolitan cities with world-class tourist attractions, superb town planning and efficient mass-transport services -- won the top three places, followed by Tokyo and Moscow.

Singapore is the only Asean state ranked in the top 10, at No.7. No surprise about that.

Ironically, the ranking was released just as Bangkok was in the middle of a PM2.5 smog crisis, with levels of hazardous ultra-fine dust soaring past 180 microgrammes per cubic metre (µg/m³) in the absence of effective protective measures from the sluggish Prayut administration.

The PM2.5 problem meant Bangkok and Chiang Mai also topped rankings of the world's most polluted cities, measured by the air quality index.

Fortunately, visitor numbers don't seem to be badly affected. In fact, given how the government prioritises tourism with packages and deals, Bangkok also deserves a place on the list of top tourist cities. The plethora of tourism initiatives almost makes me feel we residents are second-class citizens.

Recently, Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn made headlines with a proposal for cash handouts under the Chim, Shop, Chai (Taste, Shop, Spend) scheme to attract Chinese and Indian tourists. Funding for the scheme, which is aimed at alleviating the impact of the stronger baht, will come from the central budget -- our tax money. The irony is that Mr Phiphat made his controversial proposal at the same time as Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha encouraged dust-choked city residents to buy face masks. "Don't just wait for the government," he said.

Clearly, the government has no money to buy health protection needed by its citizens.

Meanwhile, tourist agencies also believe that waiving visa-on-arrival fees is the panacea that will cure their woes and maintain high arrivals. The agencies want to extend the fee exemption, set to expire at the end of April, till the end of this year. They are adamant the exemption will boost the number of Indian tourists from 1.9 million to 2.5 million and Chinese tourists from 11 to 12 million.

Some may argue that tourism, a major source of revenue for the country, deserves to be a top priority.

In the wake of the Wuhan virus outbreak, both the Tourism and Sports Ministry and Tourism Authority of Thailand were quick to express concern over the potential loss of tourism income as a result of China's strict travel measures, which have decimated inbound arrivals from China. They lamented that Thailand stands to lose about 31 billion baht over the next three months.

The alarm over the loss of tourism revenue stands in stark contrast to the reaction to the PM2.5 crisis. The government seems to have forgotten to calculate the true cost, which is high in terms of health, of the dust crisis. According to experts, PM10 pollution costs Bangkok 18.4 billion baht per year. The cost of the more hazardous PM2.5 pollution, which has hit the country during the tourism high season, is unmeasured but will be higher.

At the peak of pollution crisis earlier this month, Gen Prayut claimed that his government had to concentrate on immediate measures because "long-term solutions will need cooperation from all stakeholders". He targeted the city's 10 million cars for contributing 70% of the PM2.5 crisis in Bangkok. The PM even claimed he was avoiding harsh measures for fear of "infringing upon human rights". He implied that Thailand was different from China, where citizens' rights are trumped by state power.

It's clear, however, that the PM doesn't realise clean air is a basic human right according to the World Health Organisation.

Does the government really think tourists will visit a country with weak law enforcement, chronic traffic problems and alarming levels of PM2.5 -- just because they are given a cash handout? Or visa fee exemption?

It's a relief that the minister has now stopped pushing for the Chim, Shop, Chai incentive, probably realising it is useless during the virus pandemic.

There is nothing wrong with making the city -- and the country -- attractive for tourists. But the government should get its priorities right, and make Bangkok healthy for its people. We cannot be good hosts if we are trapped in an environmental crisis and social ills.