Foreign tourists travelling to Thailand will be able to access integrated information related to tourism services through a single digital platform by year-end thanks to a collaboration between two ministries.
The platform is being developed by the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Ministry and the Tourism and Sports Ministry.
The first phase of development on the information platform is expected to be launched by the year-end, ICT Minister Uttama Savanayana said.
Information will range from online booking services, journey planning, event calendars, digital tour guides and landmarks in Thailand.
"We aim for our platform to provide more useful information to encourage tourists to stay longer and spend more money in Thailand," Mr Uttama said yesterday after a meeting with Tourism and Sports Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul.
Mrs Kobkarn said tourism-related information about 20 provinces in Thailand would be available on the platform during the first phase, including eight tourist destinations and the 12 top places to visit.
Tourists spend an average of 5,000 baht a day in Thailand and stay 9.5 days per person, she said.
"We want to attract more quality tourists to the country and encourage them to spend more here," Mrs Kobkarn said.
Mr Uttama said the first phase will provide quick and easy access to tourism-related information of at least 3,000 hotel enterprises, guesthouses and resorts.
"We expect to see 100,000 transactions worth 300 million baht on the platform in the first year of operation," he said.
As of December 2013, there were 271,680 enterprises providing hotel services, guesthouses and resorts nationwide.
Of the total, 82.9% or 225,000 had yet to provide computer-based services to customers.
Mr Uttama said the ICT Ministry will take responsibility for implementation of the digital platform to serve tourism-related information and digital content.
It will also push for developing a free WiFi service.
The Software Industry Promotion Agency (Sipa), a public organisation administered under the ICT Ministry, will take charge of the WiFi project.
The ICT Ministry is also on the verge of developing a mobile application for the tourism information service.
Mr Uttama said the ministry would use part of its fiscal budget of 3.7 billion baht to support the first phase of the creation of the tourism information platform.
The government has allocated 100 million baht to Sipa to develop digital infrastructure and build a data centre in Phuket in a bid to serve the state's digital economy policy.
Phuket will be turned into an innovation-driven smart city this year in a pilot project to promote digital-related investment and further development of the tourism industry.
The development is also part of the government's digital economy policy.