Illustrative photo (Source: VTV) Bangkok (VNA) – Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism & Sports has unveiled that it will spend about 120 million THB (3.9 million USD) on promoting tourism to achieve a growth rate of at least 7 percent this year.
Tourism Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said the sum will be spent on stimulation projects. It will also be added to a plan of handing out 1,000 THB to each Thai citizen to spend on tourism, which is a measure of the Finance Ministry.
Phiphat said the budget would cover at least three measures. One of them is a project randomly selecting 10,000 lucky persons on September 9, October 10, November 11, and December 12 to receive tourism packages that cost only 100 THB each. Meanwhile, the ministry will also develop an e-wallet application for tourists to use during their trips, which gives them 15-percent cash back.
The minister added that he would continue to push for entry visa exemption for tourists from China and India although the Cabinet has already rejected the idea.
Phiphat said with confidence that the goal of having 40 million foreign tourists visiting the kingdom this year would be within reach. The tourists would spend around 3.37 trillion THB in Thailand, he added.
Tourism revenue from foreign arrivals makes up about 12 percent of Thailand’s GDP. However, in the first six months of 2019, the number of visitors to the country inched up just 1.4 percent due to a drop in the number of Chinese tourists.-VNA
VNA
