Thai hoteliers are opposed to the cabinet's approval of 280 million baht to support tourism packages provided by online travel agents (OTAs), fearing most of the income would flow out to foreign platforms, while local operators cannot reap benefits.
Earlier this month, the cabinet approved an additional budget for the Tourism and Sports Ministry, allocated to the Tourism Authority of Thailand.
The budget was prepared for cooperation with nine OTAs, offering promotional packages between August and September.
Thienprasit Chaiyapatranun, president of the Thai Hotels Association (THA), said the projects could not be evaluated based on generating significant tourism income within the country, as the TAT has not disclosed details about the subsidy amounts to each OTA nor their key performance indicators.
Mr Thienprasit said it is unclear how the scheme would attract more tourists to Thailand instead of visiting other countries and the impact in terms of hotel bookings.
Many OTAs in this batch pay taxes abroad as they are overseas listed companies. To earn income, they typically collect 17-30% fees from local hotels.
He pointed out that another government stimulus project that allowed tax deductions for meeting groups in secondary cities in the low season was also unsuccessful.
Many hotels in second-tier cities under the THA reported a revenue increase of less than 5%.
Mr Thienprasit said the government should consider other schemes to boost foreign and domestic tourism instead.
These include providing a cash voucher for tourists, similar to Taiwan's NT$5,000 handout, which can be used at eligible local operators.
He said the government should consider reviving the 'We Travel Together' co-payment scheme adopted during the pandemic, but limit it to hotels in non-major cities or only on weekdays.
Given the new prime minister and cabinet, he said the related ministries should continue strengthening the tourism industry, such as maintaining the visa-free policy and the aviation hub.
He hoped the new cabinet would consider cancelling the real estate policy to increase the land lease period to 99 years, and extend foreign ownership of condos from 49%.
These measures, announced earlier by former premier Srettha Thavisin, posed a risk of increasing daily room hotels illegally being rented out to tourists, competing with licensed hotels.
Besides raising the minimum wage, the government should increase the meeting and incentive subsidy amount for the public sector, which has remained low for more than 15 years.
The THA is one of the supporters of the Food & Hospitality Thailand 2024 at Queen Sirikit National Convention Center (QSNCC), which runs until Aug 24.
