Cabinet approves 5th phase of tourism subsidy scheme

Speaking to reporters after the weekly Cabinet meeting, Phiphat said the Cabinet had approved the fifth phase of the Rao Thiew Duay Kan (We Travel Together) scheme as well the budget for the subsidy.

Phiphat said the government expected to allow Thai tourists to register for the subsidy from next month. The ministry forecast that the subsidy rights would be grabbed by some 112,000 people and the programme would generate a tourism revenue of 12.539 billion baht.

He said the fifth phase of Rao Thiew Duay Kan will have the following conditions:

■ The government will subsidise 40% of room rates with a maximum 3,600 baht subsidy per room per night. A total of 560,000 subsidy rights will be available.

■ Each tourist can receive no more than five room subsidy rights.

■ Each subsidy right will include a cash voucher of 600 baht for buying foods or services.

■ The government will not subsidise airfare as in the previous phases of the scheme.

Phiphat said the ministry had yet to consult Krung Thai Bank on how to prepare the Pao Tang app’s system to accommodate the latest phase of the programme.

The minister added that the Cabinet also had approved a budget of 1.93 billion baht for other tourism promotion measures.

He said 518 million baht from the budget would be used to promote tourism among foreign markets and 582 million baht would be spent to stimulate tourism in the country.

Another 445 million baht would be spent for producing merchandises or holding activities to promote tourism, and 385 million baht would be a PR budget, Phiphat said.