The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) will propose extending Phase 4 of the “Rao Tiew Duay Kan” (We Travel Together) domestic tourism program until December to the Center for Economic Situation Administration (CESA) tomorrow (Friday), according to TAT Deputy Governor Thapanee Kiatphaibool.

Phase 4 of the program is scheduled to end on May 31^st.

Thapanee explained that she chose not to call the program “Phase 5” because there are residual funds from Phase 4 and the TAT wants to make use of them, the amount of which is expected to be known this month.

If the residual funds are available and the proposal is approved by the CESA and the cabinet, she expects the extension to commence in June.

The TAT deputy governor said that the challenge for the second half of the year is to persuade Thais, who plan to travel abroad, to travel locally instead.

She noted that people want to travel abroad because they are seeking new experiences, hence the need of all in the domestic tourism business to come up with new plans to provide new experiences or challenges for these tourists.

She also said that many people have not travelled for almost two years, during the COVID-19 pandemic and, as the situation is improving, they want to travel again.

Meanwhile, several hotel members of the Thai Hotels Association (THA) are considering special promotions for those who have not used their entitlements under the “We Travel Together” program so far, by providing them with another free night of accommodation if they stay at the hotel for two nights, as tourism enters its low season.

The main entitlement of “We Travel Together” program is that the government will subsidise hotel rooms and air tickets by up to 40% and each will receive a 600-baht coupon a day for food during their stay.

Under this program, the state will subsidise hotel rooms by up to 40%, but not exceeding 3,000 baht per room per night. Maximum hotel room booking is 10 rooms per entitlement.

The government has provided two million entitlements for the Phase 4 program and, by the end of February, about 1.8 million entitlements have been registered.