People gather at a bar along the popular tourist and nightlife strip Khao San Road in Bangkok on Dec. 10, 2021. Photo by AFP
The Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Thailand, Southeast Asia’s second largest economy, is aiming to increase subsidy to local tourists in an upcoming stimulus scheme to 50%.
The ministry also plans to change the criteria for online travel agents, mandating them to register in Thailand to avoid losing income to foreign companies.
Tourism and Sports Minister Sorawong Thienthong said the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is drafting the criteria of the new co-payment scheme, which would help subsidize tourism costs for locals, adding it should be adjusted to raise the economic impact to 5-10% compared to the previous version of the scheme.
According to TAT, previous tourism subsidy programs created an economic impact of around 58.6 billion baht (US$1.7 billion).
The ministry will start the new tourism support program during the low season (May-October) next year, but it may consider an earlier start, such as the beginning of 2025, as proposed by the private sector.
Sorawong said the ministry would study TAT’s plan next month and would like to submit the project to the cabinet in January 2025, adding TAT was also assigned to consider mechanisms that avoid over-dependence on foreign online travel agents (OTAs).
As per discussions with hotel operators, the previous stimulus program allowing foreign OTAs to be official platforms resulted in unfair practices for local businesses, as most of them were not registered in Thailand. The huge amount of commission collected from hotels, which is as high as 25-30%, has flown out of the country, he said.
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