The campaign is called "Buy International, Free Thailand Domestic Flights", Bangkok Post reported.
Accordingly, foreign tourists who buy international air tickets to Thailand will be given a free domestic round-trip ticket, along with 20kg of checked baggage.
The six participating airlines include: Thai Airways, Thai AirAsia, Bangkok Airways, Nok Air, Thai Lion Air and Thai Vietjet.
Free tickets will be applied when customers book international tickets directly through airlines or online travel agents, and are only for those who have not booked tickets before the announcement of the program.
The government plans to pay a subsidy of 1,750 baht (about 54 USD) for each one-way ticket or 3,500 baht (108 USD) for round-trip tickets.
The program is expected to be implemented between September and November, coinciding with the peak tourist season in Thailand.
The goal is to encourage tourists not only to stop at famous destinations, but also to explore many other localities across the country. This plan is expected to generate about 8.8 billion baht (more than 271 million USD) in revenue from the 700 million baht budget (more than 21 million USD), but still needs approval from the Council of Ministers.
However, some opinions say that the effectiveness of the program may be limited. Mr. punlop Saejew, Vice President of Chiang Mai Chamber of Commerce, commented that the number of visitors is already high during the tourist season, so the program only creates an certain level impact.
According to him, if applied in the low season, the benefits will be more obvious.
In the Northeast region, Mr. Rungroj Santadvanit - Chairman of the regional association of the Thai Hotel Association - also showed caution. He said that provinces such as buri Ram or Ubon Ratchathani may not benefit much, because these are not popular destinations for international visitors, although there are still flights connecting from Bangkok.
He suggested that each region should have its own strategy to attract visitors, such as developing sports tourism in buri Ram, exploiting the advantages of the Mekong River in Ubon Ratchathani, targeting nature-loving groups from Australia, New Zealand in the North, or focusing on marine tourism for Northern Europeans in the South.
In addition, tourism businesses also emphasized that the government needs to strengthen the safety of tourists and have clear communication about safe areas, especially in the context of the Thailand - Cambodia border tension showing no signs of cooling down.
Thailand has welcomed more than 20.81 million international tourists to date, down 7.04% over the same period last year, according to official figures released on August 25.
With 2.93 million arrivals, China became the largest international tourist market as of August 17, followed by Malaysia with 2.87 million arrivals, along with India, Russia and South Korea, according to information from the Thai Ministry of Tourism and Sports.
The Southeast Asian country has earned about 966 billion baht (US$29.73 billion) from international tourists so far this year, the ministry said in a statement.
The tourism industry - the main driver of the country's economic growth - accounts for 14.71% of gross domestic product (GDP) and 11.98% of jobs in 2024, according to Xinhua.
