Thailand’s digital tourism platform racks up 100,000 businesses in first year
The Digital Economy Promotional Agency (Depa) has reported significant success for its ThailandCONNEX national tourism platform in its first year, with approximately 100,000 business operators contributing to potential economic value exceeding 12 billion baht.
The platform is a key component of the Digital Tourism Campaign, designed to promote the utilisation of digital platforms for fostering industry connections.
During Wednesday's ThailandCONNEX birthday celebrations, Depa president Nuttapon Nimmanphatcharin highlighted the platform's role as a central hub for business-to-business (B2B) wholesale interactions among Thai tourism operators.
It enables members to showcase their products and services to online travel agents (OTAs) both in Thailand and around the world.
Additionally, the platform provides a digital tourism data bank and offers digital tokens to users.
Toasting the Digital Tourism Campaign's accomplishments, Depa disclosed that 2,900 tourism operators and individuals, as well as over 50 travel technology businesses, have embraced the platform, utilizing over 5,600 digital coupons. This has resulted in an economic value exceeding 260 million baht.
The ThailandCONNEX platform has successfully enlisted 108,659 businesses, including accommodation providers, restaurants, and vehicle rental services, and now features 201,764 travel-related products and services, contributing to an economic value exceeding 12 billion baht, according to Nuttapon.
This digital initiative has been credited with aiding the recovery of Thailand's COVID-ravaged tourism sector and advancing the nation towards a digital economy and society.
Nuttapon emphasised that ThailandCONNEX has boosted industry competitiveness, expanded global tourist access, and reduced reliance on foreign platforms, thus adding value to the Thai tourism sector.
He said collaboration across various sectors would make ThailandCONNEX an essential driver of the tourism economy.
In addition to benefiting travellers, the Thai platform has the potential to expand globally in the future, he added.
However, he cautioned that Thai tourism operators must adapt to the challenges emerging in the digital era.
Nattaseth Wongwattanakan, CEO of the platform's developer, Travizgo Technology, announced plans to enhance functionality and features to support and accelerate tourism recovery.
He emphasised the importance of integrating travel-related products and services into the ThailandCONNEX platform and collaborating with international partners to promote it to OTAs worldwide.
Nattaseth stated that these collaborative efforts would create seamless connections, opening up limitless opportunities for all involved. He added that ThailandCONNEX aims to add another 300,000 businesses in its second year.
Nuttapon said Depa would support the platform's expansion through domestic and international marketing campaigns. High-level figures from both the public and private sectors, tourism operators, and Thai and international influencers are actively using the platform to exchange ideas regarding digital applications for business operations, he added.
This endeavor not only introduces new tourism experiences but also encourages the use of digital technology and innovation within the tourism sector.
Furthermore, industry players were invited to participate in Digital Tourism Business Matching events via the ThailandCONNEX platform.
