TAT aims for more revenue per tourist
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THE TOURISM Authority of Thailand this year will target niche markets and freer-spending tourists to boost revenue per visitor.
“This year, TAT will be focusing on quality, not quantity. We want to increase arrivals by 4 per cent but revenues by 8 per cent,” TAT governor Yuttasak Supasorn said yesterday.
Some examples of big spenders are golfers, honeymooners, wedding-party members and long-haul travellers.
China was the largest source of arrivals with more than 8 million last year, but only 10 per cent of them were “quality” tourists. The agency this year will seek more high spenders from China.
The Tourism Ministry said this week that it planned to increase MICE (meeting, incentive, convention and exhibition) travellers by promoting Thailand as the MICE centre of Southeast Asia.
The ministry will propose Thailand as the host country for world sports events such as Moto GP, Formula One and Thai boxing.
Muslims are one of the potential markets for Thailand.
The ministry also plans to promote Phuket as the hub for cruise and marine travel.
With greater accessibility via land, air and sea connections, as well as smooth facilitation that allows visa-free or visa-on-arrival access for citizens from 68 countries and territories, TAT is confident that Thailand will remain in the top three of international tourism receipts in Asia.
The target of 30 million visitors for this year translates into revenue of Bt2.3 trillion.
For the domestic market, TAT is considering extending its tourist tax deduction,
