Thailand Extends Tourism Program, OKs Parallel Travel Campaign

Thailand decided on Tuesday to extend the program of "We Travel Together" and approved a parallel tourism campaign in its latest efforts to support the pandemic-hit tourism sector.

The cabinet of ministers approved the third-phase extension of the tourism stimulus package until the end of July, which will involve a maximum of 2 million hotel rooms, compared to 1 million hotel rooms provided in the first two phases of the scheme, according to an official at the Government House, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to lack of authority.

The "We Travel Together" program was designed and unveiled in 2020 to stimulate domestic travels and consumption in order to revive the COVID-19-affected tourism sector in the Southeast Asian country.

Each eligible beneficiary of the scheme is entitled to a maximum of 3,000 baht (about 97 U.S. dollars) for the price of a hotel room at the expenditure of the government.

The cabinet also approved a parallel Thailand Travels campaign under which a Thai national, aged 18 years and older, may apply for a maximum of 5,000 baht (about 161 U.S. dollars) from the government in spending on a domestic trip, the official said.

However, the fund the government provides for the Thailand Travels campaign will be managed by Thai travel firms for travellers' spending. About 300 travel firms have offered to join the campaign scheduled for July.