Thailand shares experiences in digital tourism development in line with ‘Thailand 4.0’ development scheme at ACEA Digital Tourism.

Forum, Kuching, Sarawak.

        As part of Digital Tourism for Smart Travelers program, National Tourism Centralized Database for Services was compiled and launched via website www.thailandtoursimdirectory.go.th with all information smart travelers need, including 10,000 popular attractions, destination by 77 provinces of Thailand, 400 activities or things to do, full list of 300 registered tour operators, more than 6,000 hotel accommodations.

        As tourism industry is a paramount growth engine driving Thai economy forward, Thai government has given high priority to the tourism development in all aspects by putting it as the national top agenda in line with Thailand’s new development scheme ‘Thailand 4.0’. Under this scheme, the government aims to shift towards a sustainable and innovative/ value-based economy by upgrading existing industries and fostering new industries. These 10 target industries include digital industry as well as medical and wellness tourism.

        Last year, we received over 35 million tourists from all over the world, #1 from China 10 million and #2 from Malaysia 3.3 million tourists. Thailand is the world’s # 9 popular destination and Asia’s #2.
The revenue generated from this booming tourism industry in 2016 is almost 50 billion USD (1st ranking in Asia and 3rd in the world) and this attributes to 18 % of total GDP.

           Website www.toursimthailand.org, developed by Tourism Authority of Thailand, also provides all information on what to know about Thailand and how to plan your trip by suggesting trips for you, like, 2 days one night in Phuket for Health and wellness, I day trip for famous bites in Bangkok old town, or 2 days one night for Chiang Mai café hopping.In term of application on smartphone, popular ones include TourismThailand, AmazingThailand and ThailandTourismMap.

         Last year, Bangkok is voted the best city to visit by Global Destination City Index, 2nd year in a row, and CNNTravel ranks Bangkok as the World’s Great City by giving 50 reasons why Bangkok is No 1.

         We also develop app for Muslim travelers called ThailandMuslimFriendly. This app has information of Muslim friendly places nearby such as Halal restaurants, maps and navigations, with offline guidebook.Currently, the government is also compiling database and develop digital application to promote several campaigns for Amazing Thai Taste, Ecotourism, Sport tourism and Thailand’s Tropical Fruit Paradise

        Last but not least, I wish to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude to the government of Sarawak for a very warm welcome and generosity as well as hospitality extended to our delegation during this visit. We are looking forward to working closely with Sarawak to promote closer cooperation in promoting tourism industry in both countries.

Royal Thai Embassy, kuala lumpur

12 March,2018