The Ministry of Tourism and Sports is proposing an initiative to provide long-stay packages for foreign visitors seeking destinations free from disease.
Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said that while foreign visitors are supposed to return slowly after the domestic market, Thailand needs to come up with a more effective marketing plan to cope with the current traveler trend.
"The Ministry is collaborating with Thailand's Tourism Authority (TAT) to create a model that will encourage unique travelers to visit chosen places," Mr. Phiphat said.
Phuket, Koh Samui, and Koh Phangan will be the pilot destinations for attracting high-end visitors worldwide.
Although these locations can be accessed by small gateways, provincial authorities can ensure that incoming visitors are screened and have greater health protection against potential importation of the virus relative to other major destinations, such as Bangkok, Pattaya, and Chiang Mai.
Mr. Phiphat said that visitors wishing to stay at least one month in Thailand must have safety certificates and strictly comply with all Thai health authorities' screening and health initiatives.
TAT offices overseas are now reaching out to the long-stay market that usually spends more than average visitors, while four-star and five-star hotels are selling their frequent guests' packages.
"The epidemic allows for Thai tourism to change focus rather than volume to quality visitors," Mr. Phiphat said.
In the last quarter of this year, the disease-free travel packages are expected to begin which is the moment that visitors from western countries typically try warmer climes.
When Thailand's pandemic was put under control, foreign travelers would not be the source of the infection's second surge, TAT Governor Yuthasak Supasorn said.
Until traveling to Thailand the latest health screening activities for visitors could become the norm in the future such as an idea of an immunity passport or a risk-free certificate.
Mr Yuthasak said the locals will fly in smaller groups until domestic tourism returns after lifting the lockdown measures.
Land transport would become a common alternative, he said, thanks to lower oil prices.
The economic crisis and drought will make people more worried about spending, and it is predicted that the budget traveler market will expand.
The first group of single visitors to travel would be millennials and female travelers.
"If the tourism sector can not come back more quickly from the slowdown, the overall economy would be hard to recover," Mr. Yuthasak said.
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