Hotel subsidies, daily vouchers to promote tourism

The cabinet on Tuesday approved a budget of 3.95 billion baht to stimulate tourism, including 2.02 billion baht for room discounts and food-tour vouchers, from February to September.

Under the fifth phase of the “We Travel Together” scheme, 560,000 hotel room nights would be available for booking by Thai applicants, said Anucha Burapachaisri, the acting government spokesman.

The government will pay 40% of room rates but not over 3,000 baht per room per night. Each applicant is eligible for no more than five room nights.

Applicants aged 18 and over will also receive a 600-baht voucher for daily spending on food and tours. The offers will be available nationwide.

The programme should benefit about 11 million workers in tourism and related sectors and lead to the circulation of 12.5 billion baht in the national economy, Mr Anucha said.

The remaining 1.93 billion baht of the budget will be used to encourage Thai and foreign tourists to travel more in the country, especially to secondary destinations.

The sum would fund tourism promotional campaigns and tourism-related product development, Mr Anucha said.