Tirachai Vutithum, Deputy Secretary General of the Olympic Committee of Thailand, said that “the change of Bangkok’s governor” will not affect it’s Olympic bid. He said the bid campaign will continue and will be supported by whoever is elected governor on July 23.
Tirachai said there will not be a change in the 2008 Olympic bid committee and the committee will have the support of the new governor.
According to Tirachai, Bangkok has a good chance of making it to the next round. “There are seven International Olympic Committee (IOC) members who have the right to vote and one of them is a German, who I am certain will vote for Bangkok in return of our vote which help Germany clinch the 2006 soccer World Cup bid” said Tirachai. “Besides, none of the bidding cities have hosted the Olympics, which gives each one of them an equal chance”.
Tirachai believes that if Bangkok was chosen to be one of the finalists, private companies would come forward with their support. He said “the budget for the second-round bid is estimated at around 500 million baht (12.5 million U.S. dollars), but we might not be able to generate such a huge sum without good support from the private sector”.
Meanwhile Wansadet Tawornsuk, development service director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, confirmed that the authority will start overseas promotion of the bid if Bangkok becomes one of the finalists. At that time there will be 100 million baht available from sponsors.
