The Association of Domestic Travel (ADT) has introduced tour packages targeting the elderly in a push to stimulate an additional 1 million domestic trips, providing job opportunities and preventing business closures.
Thanapol Cheewarattanaporn, the ADT president, said the association already proposed this package to the Tourism and Sports Ministry.
The ADT wants the ministry to allocate a 5-billion-baht budget from the current stimulus campaign to subsidise 40% of the tour package price, not exceeding 5,000 baht per person, for up to 1 million people aged 55-75 who can travel during weekdays.
He said older travellers on average spend 2,532 baht per day, or 7,595 baht for a three-day, two-night trip.
The packages are set to contribute nearly 19 billion baht to the economy and help remedy over 400,000 people working in the supply chain, such as tourism operators, employees and their families.
They should also create 50,000-100,000 jobs for tour guides whose incomes were severely affected after foreign groups were barred from Thailand, said Mr Thanapol.
He said job creation from this scheme should generate an additional 225-450 million baht for the economic system, while workers with more spending power could help create economic impact of 11.2 billion baht.
The 40% subsidy will be reserved for senior travellers only, meaning their relatives who want to accompany them would have to pay for their tour package in full. It depends on the government whether it wants to extend the benefits to relatives, said Mr Thanapol.
Suthiphong Pheunphiphop, president of the Thai Travel Agents Association (TTAA), said as outbound tourism is not operational, tour operators have to shift focus to provide premium domestic packages over the next two years until the situation returns to normal.
He agrees with the plan to include tour operators in the current stimulus campaign to support their business, but the government should act quickly as cash flow at those companies is at a critical stage.
The TTAA has around 800 members nationwide, but there are 6,000-7,000 outbound operators who are not included on the association's list.
Some 10% of total outbound tourism operators have permanently closed and withdrawn their tour operator licences with the Tourism Department.
Another 50% are temporary closed.
"The trend of returning licences is growing," Mr Suthiphong said. "Operators thought they could use guarantee money to stay afloat during a tough economy."
According to the Tourism Department, a total of 1,833 tour operators including outbound, inbound and domestic gave up licences between January and September. Tourism business closures reached a peak in June as 262 firms exited, followed by April (258) and September (252).
