The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has curated three concepts to help a group of 55 secondary destinations to develop and market their tourism economies and cultural assets in an environmentally-friendly way. These 55 provinces, which get less than four million local and foreign tourists a year, are to get increasing prominence in TAT’s future marketing campaigns.
TAT’s research has identified the need to position these secondary 55 provinces within the “big picture” of Thailand’s development. The plan is to create conceptual models that are specific to each secondary province: such as, a sports city in Buri Ram and a wellness city in Chiang Rai. The research has shown that there are more than 4,000 tourist attractions and over 8,000 accommodation units in the secondary destinations as of 2018. This creates enormous opportunities to help each of them look unique and interesting. The promotion is in line with the government’s policy to promote and strengthen the tourism sector with inspiring attractions, strengthen the foundations of tourism, and make it a major source of progress in the secondary destinations nationwide.
A survey of the TAT Intelligence Centre (TATIC) about travel trends showed that in the first half of 2018, the 55 secondary destinations hosted 2,288,164 foreign visitors. The top five source markets were Lao PDR. (513,046), China (235,573), United Kingdom (110,942), Germany (103,912), and France (84,380).
The most visited secondary destinations (hosting over 100,000 tourists) are Nong Khai, Udon Thani, Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Son. The cities receiving between 55,001-100,000 tourists are Ubon Ratchathani, Mukdahan and Satun.