Ministry targets Songkran tourism boost

Ministry targets Songkran tourism boost

The Tourism and Sports Ministry will introduce measures aimed at boosting domestic tourism during next April's Songkran festival.

Teaming up with the Thai Bankers' Association, skytrain operator BTS Group Holdings Plc, the Mass Rapid Transit Authority and PTT Plc, the ministry's package will be similar to measures for the imminent New Year holiday period. 

Plans include waiving interregional and interbank ATM withdrawal fees.

Other measures include the use of 1,300 petrol stations on main and minor roads to provide information on local tourist destinations.

Some 300 PTT petrol stations will become tourist information centres during the New Year festival as part of the pilot project.

Skytrain stations will extend closing times to 2am from midnight.

Tourism and Sports Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul expects to see next year's tourism revenue hit 2.2 trillion baht, up by 22.2% from this year's target of 1.8 trillion.

This month's domestic tourism revenue is likely to come in at 100 billion baht, bringing the full-year total to 600 billion, Ms Kobkarn said.

The Tourism Department said in the first 11 months of this year, foreign tourist arrivals dropped by 8.31% to 22 million, while tourism revenue declined by 5.64% to 1.01 trillion baht.

Last month, foreign arrivals increased by 2.53% to 2.44 million visitors.

The three most active markets in November were China, Malaysia and Russia in that order.

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