The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) released its 2023 strategic direction, promoting its "Visit Thailand Year 2023" campaign in an attempt to attract receipts of 2.38 trillion baht amid uncertainties globally.
TAT governor Yuthasak Supasorn said headwinds are expected to carry over from last year, led by geopolitical conflicts and travel curbs triggered by pandemic concerns, such as restrictions against Chinese travellers in some countries.
He said the campaign launched last year will last through 2023.
An unsettled environment in 2022 led the agency to shift most of the campaign to this year, with the goal to build high value and sustainable tourism, said Mr Yuthasak.
He said the TAT will use strategies to stimulate tourism spending to reach 2.38 trillion baht, of which 65% is projected to come from the international market and 35% from the domestic market, rising from 1.5 trillion baht estimated in 2022.
Tourism supply development will be shaped in three directions, comprising experience-based tourism, enhancing safety and service standards, and building a smart tourism ecosystem.
As measures such as the extension of stay to 45 days for tourist visas proved successful, the TAT plans to ask the government to extend this measure until the end of 2023 from March 31.
Thanes Petsuwan, TAT deputy governor of marketing for Asia and the South Pacific, said the short-haul market accounted for 67.6% of 11.8 million foreign arrivals last year, or 7.98 million without Chinese tourists.
He said the marketing effort will focus on two strategic markets: China and countries with the potential to have more than 1 million visitors, which includes Malaysia, South Korea and India.
Mr Thanes said the short-haul market will continue to be key to the tourism recovery this year, contributing 62% in terms of revenue and 72% in terms of arrivals.
"We are calling this year the second episode of the Great Resumption. Our revenue-driven strategies should see all markets grow significantly in terms of expenditure," he said.
In addition to 5 million Chinese tourists, the key market of Malaysia is expected to increase to 4 million from 1.9 million last year, while South Korea could reach 1.1-1.2 million in 2023 from 540,000 million last year.
Indian tourists, limited by the requirement of a negative RT-PCR result on their return, should return by the second quarter as the curb might not last past that period, accelerating to 2 million this year, said Mr Thanes.
Siripakorn Cheawsamoot, TAT deputy governor for Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Americas, said the marketing direction for his areas will focus on cooperation with airlines and local tour operators.
He said even though the winter schedule saw flights from Europe increase by 70-80% from the summer, it remained low compared with the pre-pandemic schedule.
"Scheduled flights had very high demand despite surging airfares based on the strong average load factor," said Mr Siripakorn.
To fill the gap, the TAT will help operators increase chartered flights, especially from secondary cities or regions that don't have direct flight to lure pent-up demand after the pandemic, he said.
