DEPA develops B2B platform for Thai tourism

This new connection venture focuses on the principle of "win-win sharing income" partly through digital technology to revive the Thai tourism industry after the pandemic. It is expected to boost Thailand's economy by 12 billion baht.

Asst.Prof.Nuttapon Nimmanphatcharin, President of the Digital Economy Promotion Agency or DEPA, and Nadhaseth Wongwattanakarn, CEO of Travizgo Technology, announced the platforms ‘ThailandCONNEX’.

The tourism industry has always been an essential engine in driving the Thai economy. The behaviour of tourists today prefers online activities (OTAs), but Thai tourism operators, especially SMEs, still lack the potential to develop their own online channels and lose a high-profit share when selling services through foreign OTAs. Also, OTAs have been growing slowly because of obstacles in terms of funding and credibility. It takes time to access and acquire the tour operators in the system, according to Nuttapon.

"Therefore, DEPA has joined forces with Travizgo Technology Co., Ltd., to develop ThailandCONNEX, the national tourism platform to act as an intermediary to connect tourism operators across Thailand with OTAs of Thai startups and OTAs operating around the world. The platform makes it easier for Thai and foreign OTAs to access Thai tourism resources," he added.

"ThailandCONNEX is a platform to create business opportunities, reduce dependency on foreign platforms and create value for the Thai tourism industry. It is expected that more than 100,000 tour operators will participate in the platform, with at least 200,000 items of goods and services, generating an economic value of more than 12 billion baht,” Nuttapon said.

Nadhaseth said that Thailand has very high tourism potential, but Covid caused the once bustling Thai tourism to become stagnant. Foreign tourists have dropped from 40 million people to less than a million people, and income of more than 3 trillion baht per year to less than 900 billion baht.

"Travizgo Technology is therefore very pleased to cooperate with DEPA in developing ThailandCONNEX which will help Thai tourism entrepreneurs, especially SMEs to have access to technology and grow steadily in the midst of the transformation of service models in the digital age," he said.

ThailandCONNEX is designed to collect Big Data under Personal Data Standards (PDPA) and use AI technology to find characteristics, trends, preferences and needs of tourists. This will be beneficial to entrepreneurs in designing and improving products and services, and to government agencies in formulating promotion policies.

ThailandCONNEX also has a Token system that will facilitate tour operators with tools to stimulate tourism. Incentives, Repeat Purchases and Alliance with other entrepreneurs as well.

Tourism operators who are interested in joining the national Thailand CONNEX platform can follow up on the advancement at www.ThailandCONNEX.com

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