A street in Bangkok, Thailand (Photo: AP)Bangkok (VNA) – Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism andSports plans to use 600 million BTH (16 million USD) from its central budget to promote tourismduring the high season as fiscal 2024 budget disbursement is expected to bedelayed until April next year.
Minister ofTourism and Sports Sudawan Wangsuphakijkosol said theproposed budget will be allocated to the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT)for its promotions, starting from the fourth quarter this year through to thefirst quarter of 2024.
Major promotion projectsinclude Amazing Thailand Passport Privileges, which requires 150 million bahtto promote the country as a preferred shopping destination, while another 150million is allotted for marketing campaigns for all international markets.
Around 200million baht will go to the Thailand Festival Experience campaign, promotinglarge festivals across five regions.
Theremainder will be dedicated to a domestic campaign called “The Link Local to Global” that ismeant to boost cross-regional trips, she said.
According to Sudawan,those projects can be tied to several important festivalsduring the high season, including Loy Krathong, the New Year Countdown andChinese New Year, and even extended to the Songkran holiday in April.
She said the ministry submitted itsproposal to the Cabinet Secretariat and it is awaiting approval from thecabinet.
The ministry also discussed the possibility of allowing people to usemoney from their 10,000-baht digital wallet, scheduled to be introduced inFebruary, for tourism spending./.
