Last month Thailand saw a marriage equality bill pass its first reading in parliament, which was regarded as a historic move that could make marriage law applicable to couples across all genders, not only opposite sexes.
Despite an open attitude towards the LGBTQI+ community among locals, previous governmental interaction on this issue has often exhibited half-hearted enthusiasm in terms of respect to gender equality.
In fact, a cabinet meeting in March this year rejected the marriage equality bill.
Even though the agenda could pass through the lower house, it faces a long path to be enacted, in contrast to the tourism industry, which learned to embrace the LGBTQI+ community years ago.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) held a conference last week about its strategic marketing plan for 2023 and said LGBTQI+ was a potential market for the American and European regions.
A decade ago the agency started targeting this segment by adopting a below-the-line marketing strategy to avoid any conflict with other authorities that remained conservative at the time.
Srisuda Wanapinyosak, the former deputy governor of TAT and former director of TAT New York, said the New York office started promoting tourism to the LGBTQI+ community in 2009 by initiating online channels, including the website www.gothaibefree.com, which received positive feedback, enabling TAT to continue this plan with European and American tourists up until the present.
However, limited openness towards this segment in Asia at the time meant it was more difficult to target this market in the region. Now times have changed.
THE RISE OF ASIAN HYPE
For the Asian market, the emergence of "Boys Love" (BL) or Y Series TV dramas in the mainstream market marked a milestone for this segment.
The stronger acceptance of LGBTQI+ was buoyed by hype among Thai and Asian BL fans, as they worked to convince people that anybody, regardless of sexual orientation, can show love and support to same-sex couples.
"Thai BL series have the strongest fan base in Japan. Interestingly, the majority of them are women," said Thanet Phetsuwan, TAT deputy governor of marketing for Asia and the South Pacific.
"We can see high potential to promote Thai tourism among this segment as 50% of 1.8 million Japanese travellers to Thailand before Covid-19 were also female."
While Thai BL series gained a reputation in Japan, a number of Japanese BL series also became more famous in recent years.
Mr Thanet said the marketing plan for Asia in fiscal 2023, starting in October this year, will emphasise this segment.
The agency already assigned three offices in Japan -- Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka -- to persuade BL series or film producers to choose Thailand as a shooting location.
If this strategy is successful, the country can showcase destinations through those dramas, enticing more travellers to visit places featured in the series, while earning direct income from film crews residing in Thailand, he said.
The initiative could be enacted in time for Japan's full reopening, which is expected in the final quarter of this year, said Mr Thanet.
If Japan reopens its borders with some restrictions this year, the TAT wants to draw 100,000-150,000 tourists from the nation this year, increasing to 250,000-300,000 next year.
If Japan eliminates all tourist restrictions, Thailand might record 500,000 Japanese visitors in 2023, according to the agency.
IMPRESSIVE TRIAL
Confidence in this segment derives from experimental trips offered last month, as TAT brought 10 fans from Japan to visit shooting locations of a BL series starring Gulf Kanawut and Mew Suppasit, well-known actors among Japanese audiences.
Chanyuth Sawetsuwan, TAT director of the Osaka office, said even though most shooting locations were not tourist attractions, the visitors were still excited because they could remember which scenes took place at those locations and were thrilled to be at the same sites as their beloved actors.
This means there are more opportunities to spur tourism receipts at other sites besides major tourism destinations, said Mr Chanyuth.
"The devotion for BL actors is quite strong when compared with other groups," he said.
"Visitors on the tour were highly impressed with the film locations. Those two actors have around 20,000 Japanese followers each. Followers actively exchange information about the actors on Twitter."
The fan base for BL series in Japan is forecast to grow from 500,000 in 2017 to more than 1 million this year, mainly attributed to lockdowns during the past two years, which saw people seek home entertainment while spending more time at their homes.
TAT surveyed audiences via its social networks tailored for BL Japanese fans, which had more than 20,000 followers, and found roughly 66% were women aged 20-30 who are first-time workers and have never visited Thailand.
Mr Chanyuth said some travellers might be concerned about an overseas trip during the pandemic and amid a weak economy, but BL fans represent unique demand and they still prefer to venture out for specific purposes.
"BL lovers want to visit destinations and shooting locations of the series once they can travel without obstacles," he said.
Mr Chanyuth said many countries produce BL series for export, including Thailand, South Korea and Japan.
Thai BL series appear to be the favourite choice in this genre, as survey participants said they enjoy different cultures in addition to an interesting storyline.
In 2022, there were almost 70 BL series planned for distribution in Japan, a large uptick from one series in 2019, 21 series in 2020 and 32 series in 2021.
POTENTIAL SEGMENT
Watanabe Toshio, general manager at Space Bus travel company, said the firm saw the potential of BL fans since last year when it helped a TV station in Japan promote a Thai BL series by live-streaming its shooting location from Thailand to let audiences in Japan engage in a virtual tour.
The event attracted a large following as the two actors, Gulf and Mew, already had a strong fan base who were willing to pay for a virtual tour.
He said Space Bus cooperated with TAT's Osaka office to organise the experimental trip last month, followed by one more group last week, which included 12 fans of a different series visiting shooting locations in Bangkok, such as on the Rama VIII bridge and Rama VIII park, as well as a university where the protagonists studied.
Mr Toshio said this type of tour programme provides a good marketing opportunity for tour operators as tourists cannot simply visit some of these private areas without permission, such as universities or private lodges.
Tour operators can help handle the programme by asking for exclusive permission for the tour group in advance, enabling fans to enjoy the shooting locations, he said.
Mr Toshio said site visits to shooting locations can last for two days, combined with more typical tourism attractions for the remaining days.
"BL fans are unlike other types of travellers as they are ready to spend for exclusive and unique experiences that can bring them close to the actors," he said.
"There are chances to spur tourists to visit more untapped locations, stimulating local tourism income. The vibe is already there. We are preparing to sell this type of tour package in the near future when travel restrictions are lifted."
Chotechuang Soorangura, vice-president of the Thai Travel Agents Association, said the LGBTQI+ segment would spend 35% more than typical leisure tourists, as mostly they don't have concerns about expenditure for kids.
The fans of BL series also have similar behaviours, preferring to spend for experiences, visiting shooting locations or any place their preferred actors shared on social media, said Mr Chotechuang.
He said the popularity of Thai BL series could trace back to 2007 when the movie Love of Siam reached international audiences and helped Mario Maurer, a Thai actor, become famous for his gay role in the film.
Siam Square, which was the main location, saw a number of young foreign travellers flood the area.
"Foreign fans of Thai BL series have the same devotion as Thai fans who love Korean series and matinee idols, frequently travelling to South Korea to visit film locations prior to the outbreak," said Mr Chotechuang. "Whenever travel restrictions are scaled back, this group will be the first to travel as there's pent-up demand from the past two years."
However, he said it is necessary for Thailand to care about every aspect of gender equality, particularly in terms of legitimacy.
"We should have laws that equally support the right of every gender, which will enable us to say we really welcome them," said Mr Chotechuang.
