SIPA backs new online platform for tourism SMEs
THE SOFTWARE Industry Promotion Agency (SIPA) and its business partners have announced the “Tourism Thailand Open Platform” (ToTOP) as a tool for the tourism industry, to be officially launched in October.
Supachai Jongsiri, acting president of SIPA, said ToTOP would enable small and medium-sized enterprises to provide alternatives to their customers and create business opportunities.
The agency expects to invite more than 300 tourism agencies, both domestic and international, to participate.
The ToTOP platform includes hotel channel management, a business-to-business agent, and a system of codes for tourist destinations.
Hotel channel management is an e-business platform and mobile application that provides information on hotel reservations and tourism supply chains such as souvenir shops, car-rental services and The B2B agent will allow small and medium-sized tourism businesses to offer their services online domestically and internationally to expand their client base, enhance their productivity and improve the quality of their service.
The code system will make it easy for business and customers to access and search for tourism information and destinations by using abbreviations. For example, WSASTH is Thailand and WSASTHHKT is Phuket.
“Not only will the platform increase the [ability] of tourism businesses to connect with their business partners and customers, it is easy to use and integrate with customers globally. It will also support new lifestyles and behaviours of customers in the digital world,” Supachai said.
