The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is encouraging Thais to take more trips between Monday and Thursday as a way to boost weekday tourism to make up 14% of all domestic tourism, or 23.8 million trips out of 170 million domestic trips taken this year.
Next year, the TAT wants to increase the ratio to 30%, or 55.5 million out of 185 million projected trips, fixing one of the obstructions to domestic tourism — congestion — while stimulating local markets, said Wiboon Nimitrwanich, the TAT’s executive director for the eastern region.
Last Friday the agency held a weekday tabletop sales event, offering packages from October 2019 to March 2020.
The event drew 98 sellers — tourism operators and service providers from every part of Thailand — and 57 buyers.
“The main target groups for weekday tourism are Mice and corporations, both categories that tend to have more activities during weekdays than independent tourists who seek a weekend getaway,” Mr Wiboon said.
Mice refers to meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions.
Flooding in many areas may slow registration among operators who want to benefit from the 1,000-baht tourism handout and the 15% tourism cash rebate of up to 30,000 baht, Mr Wiboon said. As a result, participation continues to be low.
The TAT forecasts 41.7 million trips in the domestic market during the third quarter, up 6% year-on-year, generating 280 billion baht, up 5%.
Bangkok is seen accounting for 11 million trips during July to September, up 3% year-on-year, followed by the central and eastern regions at 10.5 million (+8%), 6.6 million for the northeastern region (+6%), 5.3 million for the South (+5%), 4.5 million for the East (+7%) and 3.5 million for the North (+6%).
For second-tier destinations, 19.4 million Thais are expected to visit 55 provinces nationwide, up 6%.
Read the full article at Bangkok Post: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/1745824/tat-tries-to-boost-weekday-trips-to-counter-traffic
