In the context of the tourism industry being affected by geopolitical tensions, especially conflicts in the Middle East, Thailand is considering restoring its proposal to support international tourists with free domestic flights.
According to this option, foreign tourists who buy international tickets to Thailand at normal prices will receive a domestic round-trip ticket, to encourage them to extend their stay and spending at many domestic destinations.
The proposal was previously put forward under the previous government but has not been implemented and is currently being submitted by functional agencies to the new government for consideration.
Ms. Thapanee Kiatphaibool - Director General of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) said that this is one of the solutions to respond to the risk of declining long-distance tourism demand, as international instability factors may affect aviation operations and tourist psychology.
According to the assessment of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, if the conflict lasts for more than 8 weeks, the country may lose about 596,000 international visitors, equivalent to losses of about 40.9 billion baht (about 1.29 billion USD) in revenue.
In some localities, the impact has begun to materialize. The Phangnga Provincial Hotel Association said that the number of European visitors to the area has decreased significantly, with estimated damage of nearly 1.7 billion baht (more than 52 million USD).
Faced with this situation, Thai tourism authorities are preparing additional contingency measures to compensate for the shortage of tourists from distant markets such as Europe and the United States.
In the first two months of 2026, Thailand welcomed about 6.5 million international visitors, down 4.2% compared to the same period last year - a sign that the pressure to restore tourism is still high in the coming time.
