The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has announced plans to retool the tourism sector, to provide high-quality experiences for visitors and ensure their interactions with the kingdom and its natural environment are sustainable.
To achieve this, TAT has outlined a detailed plan that will come into effect next year. Featuring several major improvements to standard operating procedures, it aims to move the sector away from a mass tourism model and provide alternative, sustainable solutions. With lessons learned from the pandemic era, the plan also sets out ways in which the industry can be made more resilient to future threats and potential health crises.
“2024 will be the year of accelerating resilience, transforming Thailand’s tourism into high value and sustainable tourism that (emphasises) elevating and moving forward to a better tourism ecosystem,” said TAT Governor Yuthasak Supasorn in a recent statement.
“To build a new ecosystem, we need to become less reliant on the number of tourists and focus more on increasing tourist spending, attracting quality tourists, developing the supply chain with our partners, and distributing income fairly to the local communities. We need to create a balance between economic wealth, social well-being, environmental wellness, and human wisdom,” added Yuthasak.
This new project will be built around four main pillars. Firstly, strengthening supply chains to meet rising demand and distribute income fairly to local communities; secondly, developing tourism infrastructure to provide safer, smoother travel experiences; thirdly, leveraging innovation and technology to support digitisation of the sector; and finally, focusing on external risk management.
In addition, TAT has outlined five specific areas of focus in mind for the international tourist segment:
1. Position sustainability as the country’s unique selling point
2. Penetrate new and emerging markets in Europe and the Middle East region and explore other potential segments, such as business travellers and weddings / honeymoon
3. Expand collaboration with global partners
4. Promote overland travel via high-speed train links with China
5. Empower marketing with digital content
TAT are confident that their 2024 plan will deliver greater value to the industry and improved travel experience to visitors. Thapanee Kiatphaibool is the TAT Deputy Governor. He believes the new measures will “continue to focus on creating and delivering ‘meaningful experiences’ to quality travellers with different demands in tourism experiences.”
“To achieve this, TAT is concerned about the subculture movement and will strengthen partnerships at all angles with stakeholders and suppliers to drive Thailand’s tourism industry towards sustainability,” added the Deputy Governor.
