More than 180 tourism events are planned for 2018 as part of a new national tourism campaign -- Amazing Thailand Tourism Year 2018 -- that aims to create 3 trillion baht in revenue.
Deputy Prime Minister Thanasak Patimaprakorn said the Tourism and Sports Ministry, the Tourism Authority of Thailand and tourism stakeholders planned to organise 183 tourism events across the country from this November to the end of September 2018.
Most of the events have been created with an aim to promote unique local activities and traditional stories.
The events will be categorised into 16 segments such as sports, gastronomy, water tourism, weddings, medical and wellness, Asean connect, culture, green tourism, night tourism, entertainment, Mice, and community-based tourism (CBT).
The ministry also formed a committee specifically to empower the new tourism campaign and created a tourism calendar with events, placing it on the website www.amazingthailand.go.th.
The National Committee for Tourism Policy said yesterday it will help enhance the quality of local and street foods and improve hygiene at major tourist attractions to meet international standards.
Gen Thanasak said Thailand and Laos will collaborate on cross-border tourism by creating a new route linking Loei province with the Lan Xang region in Laos. The two countries will help promote and strengthen CBT, which is becoming more popular among international tourists.
This year a CBT business matching event is set to take place in London at the World Travel Mart on Nov 6-8.
In Thailand more CBT activities are slated for the coming year such as elephant village visits in Surin province and Hae Hua Toh or the Big Head festival in May in U Thong district, Suphan Buri province.
Gen Thanasak said foreign arrivals this year as of Oct 29 increased 6.56% year-on-year to 28.64 million. Foreign tourists generated income of 1.45 trillion baht, up 9.02% from the same period last year.
In October, visitors increased 20.2% and contributed revenue of 129.8 billion baht.
The government aims for 35 million visitors next year, an increase from 34 million forecast for this year. However, the government is confident of achieving its goal of 3 trillion baht in tourism revenue from international and domestic markets next year, he said.
Earlier, the Tourism Department mapped out strategic plans to improve the tourism sector, focusing on product and service development and enhancing tourist satisfaction. The department will continue to work on the supply side, developing products and services.
In the short term, the department will focus on tourist demand to improve products and services, such as fresh markets and community attractions.
For the medium term, the department will create a tourism index to tally tourist satisfaction, receiving feedback from both local and international visitors.
For the long term, the department will continue to improve on the supply side to reinforce tourism competitiveness using attractive local products and services.
New technology and IT are expected to be used to reach more tourists as modern travellers use social networks as travel manuals to find information, plan, and book trips and activities throughout their holiday.