Thailand eyes attracting tourists from long-distance markets

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) on Wednesday unveiled its tourism promotion policy for the second half of this year.

Accordingly, Thailand will focus on attracting customers from long-distance markets to help the agency meet the government’s target of THB3.5 trillion (over $95 billion) in tourism revenue this year.

Siripakorn Cheawsamoot, TAT’s deputy governor for Europe, Africa, Middle East, and Americas markets, said that long-distance markets for the rest of this year will be divided into two groups.

The stable ones, or “star countries”, are Russia, the UK, the US, Germany, and France. Tourists from these countries are already familiar with Thailand and tend to visit it before the end of the year.

The second group include six high-potential long-distance countries, which it terms “rising stars”, namely Canada, Italy, Kazakhstan, Poland, Denmark, and Saudi Arabia. These countries have shown increasing tourism revenues in recent years and are now benefitting from Thailand’s visa-free policy, said Siripakorn.

The official said that tourism promotion programmes will be carried out with airlines and hotels, aiming to extend the stay in Thailand among tourists from the 11 long-haul countries, thus increasing their spending in the kingdom.

Through tourism promotion campaigns, TAT hopes to make around 200 billion baht from these 11 star countries in the second half of 2024.