Alongside trade and commerce, closed borders and travel restrictions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic also severely impacted tourism within the APEC region.
Hosting the APEC Forum in 2022, Thailand has taken steps to revive tourism for the benefit of both its own economy and those of APEC members, underlining that safe and seamless connections and cooperation are necessary for a return to prosperity.
Through 2022 and into 2023, the aim of the Thai government following the COVID-19 pandemic is not only to revitalise Thai tourism but to transform it towards greater sustainability, responsibility, digital integration and inclusivity.
Based on policies handed down by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, the Tourism Authority of Thailand outlined a strategy for creating a “new beginning for Thai tourism”, emphasising experience-based and sustainable tourism.
The plan is built around three strategic objectives, to ‘drive demand’ for meaningful travel, to ‘shape supply’ by developing a new tourism ecosystem, and to ‘strive for excellence’ by utilising data and digital tools.
From these objectives, the Ministry of Tourism signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) with the Tourism Authority of Thailand and Emirates Airline early in the year to boost travel from the United Arab Emirates to Thailand under the Visit Thailand Year 2022: Amazing New Chapters campaign.
The campaign has since established cooperation with various airlines to attract high spending-power visitors to Thailand from regions such as the Middle East.
In the domestic market, the tourism authority has placed its focus on increasing travel frequency among domestic tourists and has been promoting Thailand as a year-round destination under the ‘REAL’ strategy: Responsible Tourism, Extra-ordinary Experience, Avant-garde Marketing and Less for more Economy.
For APEC, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has underlined that “Thailand recognises the need to reconnect the region to support economic recovery” and has heeded recommendations from regional business leaders by setting up the Safe Passage Taskforce, a multi-disciplinary body chaired by Thailand set up to help in the reopening of borders and to coordinate cross-border travel resumption through actions such as establishing an information portal on vaccine certification.
Altogether, Thailand’s local, regional and international efforts to revive travel and tourism are in support of a key economic driver for the entirety of the Asia-Pacific and empowering APEC towards overall recovery.
