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Bangkok Post
3 days ago
- Business
- Bangkok Post
Strengthening baht adds to woes of ailing travel sector
The strengthening baht is beginning to weigh on the fragile tourism sector, which is plagued by recurring security issues, leaving tourists feeling their visits aren't worth the cost. The private sector has called for efforts to restore confidence ahead of the high season. The Tourism and Sports Ministry reported this week foreign tourism receipts of 938 billion baht from 20 million visitors between Jan 1 and Aug 10, below the 2025 target of 1.77 trillion baht. Thanet Supornsahasrungsi, president of the Association of Chonburi Tourism Federation, said the baht rallying against the US dollar by 5-6% this year is a negative factor that already affected short-haul markets such as China, which now flocks to Japan due to the weak yen. He said even though Thailand secured a larger number of long-haul arrivals over the past seven months, if tourists perceive the country as unappealing in terms of value for money, they might pivot to other destinations. "We've consistently felt the impact from a weaker global economy, as tourists from many countries opted to cut overseas travel costs, seek countries where their currency appreciated, or chose to stay at home," said Mr Thanet. He said the government should respond more quickly to address problems, especially safety issues, which are at the core of the problem. Since two incidents occurred in Bangkok -- a shooting spree at Or Tor Kor market last month and Malaysian tourists being set on fire last week -- the government has done little to improve tourist confidence, said Mr Thanet. Given weak arrivals from China and South Korea, he said Pattaya now depends on weekends or long holidays to lift occupancy rates from local travellers. For instance, during the recent Mother's Day holiday, the average occupancy rate in Pattaya surged to 80-90%, but it drastically dropped to 30-40% during weekdays. "We might not immediately feel the pinch from the latest case involving Malaysian tourists, as this period coincides with the school break in China, where tourists already booked their trips and are still travelling as planned, likely resulting in 5% growth this month," said Mr Thanet. "We're more concerned about forward bookings if the government doesn't attempt to restore confidence." He said the co-payment scheme for domestic travel helped increase the local market to some extent, but small and medium-sized hoteliers have not reaped the benefits as much as large hotels due to delayed budget allocation. From the first month of implementation in July, many small hotels had to withdraw from the scheme as they didn't receive payments from the government as scheduled, causing them to bear the costs of servicing those guests in advance. As privileges for major destinations including Pattaya have been fully redeemed, tourism operators urged the government to switch to the more efficient Pao Tang app operated by Krungthai Bank (KTB), said Mr Thanet.
Bangkok Post
17-07-2025
- Business
- Bangkok Post
Domestic co-payment incentive comes under scrutiny
The government's domestic tourism stimulus campaign has come under heavy criticism in parliament, with the opposition blasting the scheme as ineffective due to frequent technical failures, low public engagement and high potential for fraud. At a House session yesterday, Somchart Techathavorncharoen, a People's Party MP for Phuket, grilled Tourism and Sports Minister, Sorawong Thienthong, over the Khon La Khrueng scheme's lacklustre performance. The scheme received 1.75 billion baht in funding from the central government's 157-billion-baht economic stimulus fund. It offers Thai citizens co-payments on bookings for domestic hotel stays and holiday packages in a bid to revive the flagging tourism sector. Mr Somchart noted that since the latest phase was rolled out, only 158,000 bookings have been made -- less than 10,000 per day. He questioned why the government opted to create a new app for the campaign, instead of utilising widely used platforms, such as Pao Tang and Tung Ngern. The new app is known to be plagued with glitches, and many users have complained about the complicated registration steps -- discouraging both users and hotel operators from signing up. He further questioned the transparency of the procurement process for the app, highlighting the absence of publicly-accessible information regarding the budget and developer. "Why didn't the government work with Krungthai Bank again?" Mr Somchart asked, citing the bank's past success in administering similar schemes. He also raised concerns about the app's vulnerabilities, especially after reports of fake receipts being used as proof of payment and users booking multiple rooms per night. In response, Mr Sorawong apologised and admitted the rollout was far from smooth. He said the latest figures showed 1.11 million people have successfully registered, about 140,000 of which have confirmed their bookings.
Bangkok Post
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Bangkok Post
Travel scheme farce
The rollout of the "Tiew Thai Khon La Krung" campaign, or Thailand Travel Co-pay scheme, last week has proved to be unmitigated disaster, with no resolution in sight. This embarrassing episode reflects not only gross incompetence, but entrenched political pettiness among policy-makers. The scheme was designed to stimulate domestic tourism by subsidising travel and accommodation costs -- similar to the We Travel Together" campaign under the Prayut government, to boost Covid-hit tourism. Under the latest scheme, the government would cover up to 50% of hotel room rates during the low season. A total of 500,000 entitlements were allocated to the public, funded by money diverted from the suspended digital wallet initiative. But within minutes of registration opening, the system buckled and stopped. Registrants were instructed to verify their identity via the Interior Ministry's ThaID app. Without prior testing, the ThaiP platform crashed under the volume of users. Developers hastily removed the ThaID requirement and redirected users to verify their identity via email using a one-time password (OTP). This solution, too, failed. Most users registered with Gmail accounts, which flagged the mass-sent OTPs as spam, rendering verification impossible. Later, a new problem emerged: hotel prices on the platform were noticeably higher than on other booking sites. Some opportunistic hotel owners were accused of price-gouging to reap profit from the stimulus scheme. However, they explained the system forced them to apply a flat rate, regardless of weekdays, weekends, or peak-season differences. This left them with no choice but to set higher prices to cover costs. Several hotels, in an effort to avoid public backlash, suspended bookings through the programme altogether. Eventually, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) suspended new registrations until the system issues could be addressed. This debacle exposes unprofessionalism at every level, ranging from Tourism and Sports Minister Sorawong Thienthong who fast-tracked the scheme without preparation, to the implementing agencies that failed to communicate clearly or anticipate foreseeable problems. From the outset, the public was led to believe the entitlements would be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, prompting a stampede. Only after the system collapsed did TAT clarify that the 500,000 quota would only be counted upon actual booking and payment. Perhaps most galling is the government's refusal to use the Pao Tang application, developed by Krungthai Bank under the previous administration of Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha. The app is a proven stable platform that has handled numerous government schemes, including the "We Travel Together" campaign. Yet the current administration ditched Pao Tang. The only likely explanation is it does not want to give credit to the achievements of Prayut government. This backward, partisan decision-making is both wasteful and counterproductive. Why should taxpayers foot the bill to build new ineffective applications when a capable, well-tested system is already available? The Thailand Travel Co-pay fiasco is not simply a case of technical failure. It reflects a broader dysfunction, a mindset that places political image above public interest, and pride above practical governance. What could have been a showcase economic stimulus project and a feather in the government's cap, now stands as a black mark against Pheu Thai's record.
Bangkok Post
03-07-2025
- Business
- Bangkok Post
Specialists urge revamp of state procurement process
Technical experts have urged an overhaul of the bidder qualification criteria for government auctions to prevent registration system collapses for state projects with a massive amount of registrants. The comments follow glitches in the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) registration system for the 1.76-billion-baht co-payment scheme, which subsidises hotel rooms for domestic tourists. The glitches led to crashes from the first day of registration on Tuesday. The TAT apologised on Wednesday for the glitches. A source with experience in developing large-scale registration systems who requested anonymity said it might be difficult to pinpoint the exact flaws in the co-payment system's registration. The source likened the mess to hiring a home builder to construct a large building, the kind of project that requires specialised expertise. Designing a registration system for a large project requires a robust queuing mechanism, added the source. "These kinds of systems must be able to efficiently manage massive volumes of user traffic, particularly during peak registration periods," said the source. Without a well-engineered queuing structure, users may experience timeouts, system crashes or delayed responses -- issues that severely erode public trust. The source emphasised the need to reform the government procurement process. Instead of awarding contracts to the bidder proposing the lowest price, the contracts should be awarded to those with the best value or the best price-performance, noted the source. If state agencies prioritise the lowest bid, the bidders will compromise on technical specifications so the project cost does not exceed the budget, and this undermines the overall system quality, said the source. Furthermore, the terms of reference should clearly stipulate that eligible bidders must have experience in building systems capable of handling at least 10,000 transactions per second. A thorough load performance test must be conducted prior to the system's launch to ensure stability and scalability under peak demand, the source added. Another source who is familiar with government projects and requested anonymity said to build a system that can handle a heavy workload, one approach is using a front-end component that places incoming requests into a queueing system. This prioritises speed and avoids too much processing upfront. Then, the back-end can gradually pull requests from the queue and process them in order. "In other words, we don't 'fire' requests directly at the back-end. Instead, the back-end 'sweeps' requests from the queue and processes them accordingly. This kind of architecture makes the system much less likely to crash under load," said the source. The source questioned whether it would be better to use an existing system that has already been optimised and proven it can handle heavy traffic loads. TAT governor Thapanee Kiatphaibool said earlier the agency changed from using the Pao Tang application managed by Krungthai Bank in the previous scheme to its own app -- Amazing Thailand -- to establish data ownership and tighten security checks through verification on the state-owned ThaID app. She said the two apps could help enhance security, allowing the TAT to assure the public that registrants' personal data is protected according to national standards. The TAT said its co-payment system was developed by Raventure Co, which was established in 2023. Creden Data reported the company has 2 million baht in registered capital. The company said its executives had experience in developing government apps, including the Mor Prom vaccination information service during the pandemic. Ms Thapanee said the registration process, which has been heavily criticised for its complexity, is needed to avoid large losses from fraud, as occurred in the past four phases of the "We Travel Together" scheme.
Bangkok Post
02-07-2025
- Business
- Bangkok Post
Bugs being fixed in travel subsidy sign-up system
Lessons learned from previous travel subsidy schemes that cost the government 2.3 billion baht due to fraud have the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) defending the complicated registration process for the latest programme. The agency has been working on fixing problems that led to crashes on the first day of registrations on Tuesday. As of Wednesday evening, it was still deciding whether it would have to suspend registrations, in which case it would inform the public, said TAT governor Thapanee Kiatphaibool. The TAT has also pledged to regulate appropriate room prices and guard against overcharging by hoteliers during the low-season domestic travel promotion period. The agency apologised on Wednesday for glitches in registrations for the 1.76-billion-baht co-payment scheme, which subsidises hotel rooms for domestic tourists, offering 500,000 room nights in total. Ms Thapanee said the agency had changed from using the Pao Tang application managed by Krungthai Bank in the previous scheme to its own app — Amazing Thailand — to establish data ownership and tighten security checks through verification on the state-owned ThaID app. She said the two apps could help enhance security, allowing the TAT to assure the public that registrants' personal data is protected according to national standards. According to the TAT, the new system was developed by Raventure Co, which was established in 2023. The company said its executives had experience in developing government apps, including the Mor Prom vaccination information service during the pandemic. Ms Thapanee said the registration process, which has been heavily criticised for its complexity, is needed to avoid large losses from fraud, as occurred in the past four phases of the 'We Travel Together' scheme. Since the subsidy programme was first launched during the pandemic, a total of 1,489 fraud complaints have been filed in connection with bogus bookings to claim subsidies. Of the total, 1,411 are still under investigation and only 38 have been concluded. The unresolved fraud cases caused roughly 2.34 billion baht in damage. Ms Thapanee said the major bottleneck has been access to the ThaID app, which can accommodate only 100 visitors per second. To eliminate these obstacles, the developer has bypassed the process with ThaID at the beginning. Instead, tourists will be required to verify their identity via ThaID during check-in later, she said. The agency is also upgrading its main website and has put the list of hotel and tourism products on the front page to let unregistered users search for hotels before they enrol in the scheme. Responding to complaints from users unable to obtain a one-time password (OTP) for email verification, mostly Gmail users, she said the large amount of OTP submissions at one time made Google classify them as spam. These technical hurdles were partially resolved, and the TAT assured tourists the system should run smoothly within a week. In terms of concerns about overpriced hotel rooms in the scheme, Ms Thapanee said prices should not exceed 10% above last year's low-season rate. If any hotel is found to be selling overpriced rooms, the TAT has the right to blacklist the operators from the system, she said. However, as hoteliers sought to use dynamic pricing for the co-payment system, Ms Thapanee said hotels should adopt only two fixed rates: weekdays and weekends plus holidays.
