Thailand’s tourism authorities seem to announce a new goal every day. While the Tourism Authority of Thailand is aiming for Saudi and Australian tourists in Phuket, TAT has also announced a goal last week for Thailand as a whole: 3,000 Indian tourists a day.
TAT aims to meet its goal through various promotional campaigns and special travel incentives. TAT claims that wedding tourism has grown popular among Indian visitors to Thailand, and it now has a goal of holding 400 events related to wedding tourism this year.
Government Spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said Indian travelers could rake in as much as 22.5 billion baht in revenue for Thailand. Indians already make up Thailand’s biggest tourist group this year, with 100,884 Indian arrivals in the country between January 1 and May 24.
In Phuket, the countries with the most visitors coming to Thailand are India, Australia, Singapore, UK, Russia, Germany, Malaysia, US, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
This news comes after TAT announced last month that it plans to to target “wealthy groups of tourists” as it works out its marketing plan to recover Thailand’s disheveled tourism economy now that travel restrictions are easing. The TAT claims that, focussing on the “rich groups”, 1.93 trillion baht will be generated in 2024 even though the number of tourists will be fewer than in the past years.
TAT’s governor Yuthasak Supasorn said TAT would promote Thai tourism with new tools like Thailand’s “soft power” (low-key, indirect promotion through media and influencers). He believed that the Thai tourism industry would recover “very quickly”.
In the past weeks, TAT has announced plans and initiatives that seem to target every spot on earth for tourism. Saudi, Australian, and European tourists. Last month, TAT visited The Netherlands, Belgium and France in a roadshow promoting Thailand to Europeans.
SOURCE: National News Bureau of Thailand | Thai PBS World