Agreement encompasses latest collaboration on data-driven strategies to boost tourists spending on health and wellness tourism experiences and the Amazing Thailand Grand Sale.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and Visa have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the latest collaboration on innovative data-driven marketing strategies with the objective of encouraging Visa cardholders from overseas to spend more while travelling in Thailand.

The MoU, signed on 26 May 2023, places emphasis on Thailand’s health and wellness tourism experiences and the annual Amazing Thailand Grand Sale – which TAT and Visa have been strategic partners since 1998.

Mr. Yuthasak Supasorn, TAT Governor, said “TAT and Visa have cooperated in various marketing campaigns over the years. This latest MoU underscores our long-standing partnership and further expands our collaboration to leverage a smart data system for tourism to support our marketing strategy development to sustainably move Thailand’s tourism forward.”

Under the MoU, TAT and Visa will collaborate on stimulating Visa cardholders from overseas to visit Thailand and spend more on tourism products and services.

Visa will provide data intelligence on cardholders’ travel preferences to and from Thailand and their expenditure while in Thailand, through analyzation of member card usage. This will enable effective data-driven marketing strategies.

The collaborative efforts will be aligned to reinforce Thailand’s long-standing positioning as one of the world’s top six popular shopping destinations. This will be substantiated during the upcoming Amazing Thailand Grand Sale 2023 – to be held from 15 June to 15 August in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Udon Thani, Chon Buri (Pattaya), and Songkhla (Hat Yai).

The collaboration is also aimed to further elevate Thailand’s well-established status as the preferred destination for health and wellness tourism.

TAT and Visa will focus on sending out a single message that reflects TAT’s strategy to offer experience-based tourism and leveraging the kingdom’s 5F soft-power foundations – Food, Film, Festival, Fight and Fashion – to offer meaningful travel experiences in Thailand.

Likewise, the target markets will reflect the TAT’s ‘Great Resumption Episode II’ strategy for short-haul markets, which include China, Malaysia, India, South Korea, Singapore, and the CLMV countries (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam).

Ms. Serene Gay, Visa’s Group Country Manager – Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, said “Visa and the TAT have enjoyed strong partnership for over 20 years, and we are delighted to continue this with our latest joint initiative to boost tourist expenditure. Visa’s expertise, experience and global network will provide valuable market insight and reach in achieving the desired goals and driving economic growth for Thailand’s tourism.”

According to the Visa Global Travel Business and Economy Report, tourists from around the world chose to visit Bangkok as their main destination in Asia Pacific, and that shopping is one of the top income-generating areas among tourists to Thailand in which spending in shops and restaurants in Bangkok continued to recover from 2019 to 2022.

Through a number of strategic strategies under the Visit Thailand Year 2023: Amazing New Chapters campaign, TAT expects Thailand to welcome 30 million tourists from overseas in 2023, generating 1.44 trillion Baht in tourism revenue.