Tourism ministry pushes festive travel

BANGKOK Ministry of Tourism and Sports has floated several measures to boost domestic travel over the festive season.
Tourism Minister, Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, said the ministry had asked all commercial banks to waive ATM withdrawal fees, 31 December to 4 January, as an incentive gift for travellers. The fees kick-in when a traveller uses an ATM outisde of the town where their account is registered.
The banks were also asked to feature attractions and promote travel on ATM screens during the New Year festival.
The ministry also asked 3,000 PTT petrol stations that provide rest areas to spruce them up to improve the travel experience for motorists.
inside no 4About 300 stations will join the campaign in the first phase before it is extended to other PTT outlets by 31 December.
Tourists are encouraged to use social media to post photographs of themselves and share “selfies” with friends with the hashtag ThailandOnly, she explained.
Selected photos will be displayed on 1,250 screens at BTS trains and Skytrain stations, 84 screens at SRT train stations, and 1,000 screens at office buildings and eight giant 200-square-metre LED screens outside shopping malls in tourist districts.
One hundred participants will have a chance to win free packages to travel to 12 destinations promoted by the Tourism Authority of Thailand. About 164,000 photos are already stored at the TAT. All the promotions are geared to domestic travellers.
The 12 destinations are: Lampang; Phetchabun; Nan; Buriram; Loei; Samut Songkhram; Ratchaburi; Trat; Chanthaburi; Trang; Chumphon and Nakhon Si Thammarat.
Efforts to make travel more convenient for international visitors include low-cost travel insurance with premiums of only THB650.
In July, TAT in cooperation with four insurance companies — Muang Thai Insurance, Chao Phaya Insurance, Siam City Insurance, and Krungthai Panich Insurance — offered travel insurance called Thailand Travel Shield for foreign tourists in Thailand in the form of online insurance.
However, despite repeated requests for details on how many insurance premiums were sold since the scheme was launched, neither TAT, nor the insurance companies have given any indication of the sales pick-up.
The policy provides cover of THB1 million for a premium as low as THB650, and up to THB2 million for a premium of THB1,100. The minimum cover is for 60 days, but there are options for travellers who make multiple trips to Thailand over one year.
The basic THB650 package comes with medical and sickness cover not exceeding THB1 million. In the event of death by accident, loss of limb or mobility the pay out is THB1 million.
Visit http://www.tourismthailand.org/ThailandTravelShield/.
Feedback from the tourism industry indicated travellers were facing obstacles taking out insurance cover for their holidays to Thailand after the military coup 22 May and a declaration of martial law which is still in place.
Travel firms worldwide find it more difficult to insure their clients under martial law due to insurance exclusions. It will cost more to override the exclusion clauses.
The ministry projects Thailand’s tourism will reach 25 million trips by year-end admitting the political crisis lopped off at least a million leisure trips this year.
Last year, the kingdom attracted 26,735,583 international tourists increasing 19.60% from 22,353,903 visits in 2012.

sourced:ttrweekly.com