tourism industry
- Business News
Thailand aims for 7.5 billion baht from foreign filmmakers this year
Thailand is making a concerted effort to boost its economy by attracting international filmmakers to its scenic and diverse locations. The Tourism and Sports Ministry has teamed up with the Culture Ministry to promote these film locations, aiming to generate 7.5 billion baht (US$206.5 million) in earnings from foreign film companies this year. The collaborative effort was highlighted at the…
- Thailand News
Tourism boom in Thailand: Hottest trends and bold predictions for 2024
The Thailand Tourism Forum 2024 (TTF 2024) recently revealed that the tourism industry will be revived despite the shadows of the pandemic, igniting hope among industry leaders. Jesper Palmqvist, Managing Director of STR Global, predicts a surge in Thailand’s hospitality sector with the addition of 10,000 new hotel rooms this year. These establishments, primarily upper-midscale and luxurious, signify a robust…
- Tourism News
Thailand tourism council to allocate visitor fees
The Tourism Council of Thailand plans to allocate a tourism fund, garnered from fees collected from foreign visitors, predominantly for the improvement of the tourism sector by state agencies. The fund, according to Surawat Akaraworamat, the Vice-President of the Tourism Council, is being prepared for implementation as soon as the government greenlights the project. Three subcommittees have been working relentlessly…
- Business News
Thailand unemployment rate drops to 1.05% as tourism industry rebounds
Thailand witnessed a decrease in its unemployment rate during the first quarter, reaching a three-year low of 1.05%, down from 1.15% in the final quarter of 2022, according to the state planning agency’s announcement on Monday. The improvement is attributed to the strengthening recovery of the vital tourism industry. The nation’s economy, which is the second-largest in Southeast Asia, experienced…
- Thailand News
The 4 Traveller Tribes of the next decade
Travel-tech outfit Amadeus has identified what it calls the four “Traveller Tribes” of the next decade – experientialists, influencers, memory makers and pioneers. According to the Nation, Singapore’s Amadeus examined emerging traits, behaviours, and preferences, to pinpoint what travellers will want a decade from now. Pioneers, more than 40% of all travellers globally and the largest tribe, live fast-paced lives…
- Tourism News
Russians take Thailand by storm
Since September, Russian tourist arrivals in Thailand have increased sevenfold. A number of favourable factors make Thailand the perfect place to escape the icy grip of winter in Russia this year. Thailand, especially Pattaya and Phuket, has always been a popular holiday destination for Russians, with 1.48 million of them arriving in Thailand in 2019. Pre-pandemic, Russia was once Thailand’s…
- Tourism News
Thailand to welcome one millionth tourist this year by end of May
Thailand expects its one millionth foreign tourist this year to arrive by the end of May, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand. The kingdom has seen a sharp increase in tourists since the Test & Go programme and other entry requirements were scrapped at the start this month. However, the current influx of tourists still has nothing on pre-pandemic…
- Thailand News
Billionaire asks PM Prayut to scrap Thailand Pass and Test & Go
An American-born Thai billionaire has written another open letter to Thailand’s PM Prayut Chan-o-cha calling for an ease in entry restrictions to help the country’s tourism industry recover. William ‘Bill’ Heinecke, founder of the huge Minor Group, says scrapping Thailand Pass and Test & Go will attract international tourists back into the kingdom. The letter, written yesterday, presents quite the…
- Thailand video news
Thailand News Today | Tourism industry pushes for scrapping of Thailand Pass and PCR testing
Key figures in Thailand’s tourism industry have renewed their calls for the Thailand Pass and PCR testing on arrival to be scrapped. Speaking at the Thailand Tourism Forum in Bangkok yesterday, the chairman of global hotel operator Minor International, renewed his call for the government to ditch the Thailand Pass system. Bill Heinecke has been vocal on issues affecting tourism’s…
- Tourism News
Thailand tourism industry hopeful with the return of Test & Go
With the reintroduction of the Test & Go program, that allows fully vaccinated people to enter Thailand with a Day1 and Day 5 PCR test, businesses in the tourism industry are hopeful for a more sustained growth in international travellers from February and beyond. The program was reinstated, albeit with some revisions that were not met with a particularly welcoming…
- Tourism News
Tourism industry aims for improvement over Sandbox for reopening
Thailand’s battered tourism industry is making final preparations for the big November 1 reopening with high hopes of welcoming back international travellers across Thailand. On November 1, the country will reopen with still somewhat convoluted 3 entry options and quarantine-free travel for arrivals from 46 low-risk countries. The Phuket Sandbox, with nearly 58,000 arrivals from July 1, has been viewed…
- Tourism News
Tourism jobs continue to be lost – nearly 1 million in 2021
It’s easy to look scornfully at the government and tourism industry’s rose-tinted predictions of the Phuket Sandbox reopening and further return of international tourism to Thailand by the end of the year. But a look at the current statistics for the battered tourism industry helps explain the need for hope. This quarter, 550,000 jobs were lost in the tourism industry.…
- Economy News
Deputy PM says pandemic exposed problems in Thai economy, time to improve
As the Covid-19 pandemic hit economies all over the world with business closures and travel bans, issues with Thailand’s economy were exposed, according to Deputy PM Supattanapong Punmeechaow. The country cannot go back to the way it was before the global outbreak, he says. Thailand’s large tourism industry was battered by the lack of foreign visitors. Small and medium businesses…
- Phuket News
Cheaper flights to Phuket a possibility to help revive the tourism industry
Some say cheaper flights to Phuket will entice people to visit the island and get the once booming tourist destination back on its feet. Along with talk of lowering the price of tickets, those at a stakeholder meeting at the Thai Airways International headquarters in Bangkok say more direct international flights to the island also need to be reinstated. The…
- Phuket News
PM to visit Phuket on Monday as island’s economy lies in tatters
PM Prayut Chan-o-cha is to arrive in Phuket on Monday, where he will meet with local business leaders and discuss proposals for reviving the southern island’s devastated tourism sector. It’s understood a representative of Phuket’s Old Town area is to put forward an idea for promoting the historic centre as a tourist destination. Since borders were closed in late March,…
- Visa Information
Hard truths about travelling to Thailand, right now
OPINION Just a year ago, you could book a flight, booked a hotel, and in many cases, just arrived to receive a visa-on-arrival stamp in your passport. A few hours later you were sitting on a beach sipping colourful drinks out of tall glasses. Just one year later and being a tourist in Thailand is very difficult, if not impossible…
