The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) will organise a new fair to promote weekday tourism during the low season and push the amount of domestic travel to reach 160 million trips as targeted.
Over the past few years, about one-third of domestic trips were made during weekdays and the larger part was weekend travel, said Noppadon Pakprot, deputy governor for the domestic market at the TAT.
The agency wants to increase domestic trips during weekdays, especially in the upcoming low season from May to September, Mr Noppadon said.
The TAT is preparing alliances with Visa, Thai AirAsia, Bangkok Airways and Agoda.com to hold a tourism fair May 10-13 at Queen Sirikit National Convention Center.
Promoting weekday tourism will also help drive tourism income from the domestic side to reach 1 trillion baht this year, up from 970 billion baht last year, while the number of trips is expected to rise from 154 million last year to 160 million.
The TAT expects total tourism receipts from the international market to hit 2 trillion baht this year.
Mr Noppadon said the agency is working to increase domestic tourism income to 33% of the total this year, from 30% last year.
The promotion of travel to 55 secondary provinces is a key condition to help the agency reach the target. The strategy is in line with the government's policy to promote tourism in non-major cities this year.
The cabinet has approved tax breaks for tourism spending in 55 secondary provinces that each welcome fewer than 4 million tourists a year.
The tax breaks, effective from Jan 1 to Dec 31, 2018, will be offered to individual travellers who spend on accommodation, food and drinks, as well as corporations that organise seminars and meetings at these secondary locations.
One upcoming event is the Great Mekong Bike Ride, which is scheduled to take place May 18-20 in three provinces of the Northeast -- Nakhon Phanom, Mukdahan and Sakon Nakhon -- and is expected to attract about 2,000 cyclists, including 321 foreigners from 21 countries.
The event is expected to generate about 100 million baht in revenue for the three provinces and nearby areas.
Meanwhile, the Thai Travel Agents Association anticipates that the number of Thais travelling overseas will continue to increase this year and reach 10 million in the years ahead.
Last year, about 8 million Thais travelled abroad.