Johannes Pattermann, sales director at Ramayana, said: “The Ramayana Water Park was opened in 2016 with an investment of Bt1.5 billion on a 106-rai area surrounded by the beautiful nature of Khao Chee Chan and Silver Lake Winery. We are able to serve 7,500 tourists per day and we have been selected by TripAdvisor as the largest and best water park in Thailand, the third in Asia and the 19th in the world.”

He said in the future the park plans to invest in amusement facilities as well as organising events that cater to a larger number of tourists.

“The tourism industry of Chon Buri and Pattaya, as well as of Thailand as a whole, is expected to grow continuously. Pattaya’s tourism is also changing into a family destination with sports tourism, and this is good for the image of Pattaya. It also goes in harmony with the policies of the Thai government and Tourism Authority of Thailand of establishing Thailand as a family destination. The Ramayana Water Park is ready to answer to this policy, and we are prepared to serve large organisations, group tours and families on a larger scale. With our large space and numerous facilities, being the largest water park in the country, we are able to respond to the requirements of large corporations effectively,” he said.

Covering 47 destinations across the region with eight in the Americas, 15 in the Pacific and 24 across Asia, the PATA Annual Tourism Monitor 2018 Early Edition reviews foreign arrivals over the past five years in an effort to quantify the changing trends and patterns of international travel across the Asia Pacific region.

The distribution of these arrivals was such that, in terms of the destination regions and sub-regions covered in the report, Asia received the majority of these arrivals in 2017 with a 72-per-cent share, followed by the Americas with 24 per cent and the Pacific with the remaining four percent. A similar distribution was seen for the additional volume of foreign arrivals generated in each region between 2016 and 2017.

Another annual performance marker is the increase in the absolute number of foreign arrivals between 2016 and 2017, and the top five with the highest actual annual volume increases in 2017 were: Turkey (+7.058 million), Japan (+4.763 million), Mexico (+4.218 million), Vietnam (+3.024 million), and Thailand (+2.852 million).

In total, 11 Asia Pacific destinations each welcomed more than one million additional foreign arrivals to their respective destinations between 2016 and 2017. Only four of the 47 destinations reported declines in their inbound foreign arrival numbers, and these ranged from a minor loss of 4,000 arrivals to a much more significant contraction of nearly 3.9 million.

Overall however, the Asia Pacific region received nearly 35 million more foreign arrivals in 2017 than just one year earlier.

Intra-regional travel flows remained very strong for most Asia Pacific regions in 2017, with almost 94 per cent of the foreign arrivals to Asia originating from within Asia itself. For the Americas, the intra-regional proportion of international travel was 78 per cent.

The Pacific went against this trend, with 32 per cent of its foreign arrivals in 2017 originating from within the Pacific region, Fifty-three per cent came from countries or Asian origin.

In terms of supplier markets to Asia Pacific in 2017, the vast majority of foreign arrivals came from Asia (62 per cent), followed by the Americas (18 per cent) and then Europe (12 per cent). The Pacific supplied a little over two percent of the total arrivals into Asia Pacific last year, followed by Africa with less than one per cent. A significant proportion of arrivals (five per cent) came from origin markets that were unspecified.

Malaysia and Singapore have retained their positions as the top-ranked destinations in the US220 billion global Muslim travel market as rivals seek to close the gap, according to the annual research on the sector.

In this year’s GMTI, Thailand improved its ranking by two spots to the 16th position among 130 destinations. The improvement can be attributed to the continued effort by Thailand’s tourism stakeholders in broadening the availability of Halal restaurants and promoting the destination to Muslim travelers.

Among non-Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) destinations, Thailand retained its second position behind Singapore, as the most Muslim-friendly destination for travelers. Japan and Taiwan surged into the top five for the first time since the GMTI was released

The Mastercard-Crescent Rating Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) 2018, which covers 130 destinations, saw Malaysia retain the premier spot in the overall rankings (including both IOC and non-IOC nations) whilst Indonesia’s year-on-year growth saw it moved up to joint second with the United Arab Emirates.

A number of Asian destinations improved their rankings as they adapt their services to attract Muslim travelers. The index highlighted the lack of a strong digital presence by most destinations.

The index, which was officially launched in Jakarta in April, confirmed the Muslim travel market will continue its fast-paced growth to reach US$220 billion in 2020 and US$300 billion by 2026.

In 2017, there were an estimated 131 million Muslim visitor arrivals globally – up from 121 million in 2016. This is forecasted to grow to 156 million visitors by 2020, representing 10 per cent of the travel segment. Muslim visitor arrivals in Thailand were estimated to be 3.6 million, approximately 10 per cent of the tourists to Thailand in 2017.

“We are now starting to see the impact of investment and commitment by destinations across the world into the Muslim travel market which is reaping rewards including a real shift in the rankings. The concerted efforts of destinations such as Indonesia, Singapore, Japan and Taiwan using data and insights from the previous GMTI reports have to be commended as they are now closing the gap,” said Fazal Bahardeen, CEO of CrescentRating & HalalTrip.

“This year we have revamped the Index criteria to better reflect the growth strategies implemented by destinations to welcome the Muslim travelers resulting in positive movement across the Index. We have also released the ‘Crescent-Rating Growth & Innovation Model’ to help destinations practically use this report to strategize growth and innovation for this fast paced travel segment,” added Bahardeen.

Thailand is catching up to the leaders in attracting Muslim visitors as government initiatives such as the National e-Payment Plan and Standardised QR Code makes traveling safer and more convenient for more diverse international visitors, said Donald Ong, Country Manager, Thailand and Myanmar, Mastercard. “Thailand is already ranked second among non-OIC countries as our growing tourism industry taps into this increasingly important market segment,” he added.

All 130 destinations in the GMTI2018 have been ranked against a backdrop of criteria with some new metrics added for this year’s research including the CrescentRating Growth-Innovation Model.

Key metrics included access, which contains infrastructure, communications, and looking at how destinations market themselves to a target audience environment and services. Each criterion is then weighted to make up the overall index score.

The multi-trillion dollar industry’s carbon footprint is expanding rapidly, driven in large part by demand for energy-intensive air travel, researchers reported in the journal Nature Climate Change.

“Tourism is set to grow faster than many other economic sectors,” with revenue projected to swell by four percent annually through 2025, noted lead-author Arunima Malik, a researcher at The University of Sydney’s business school.

Holding the sector’s carbon pollution in check will likely require carbon taxes or CO2 trading schemes for aviation, the researchers concluded.

As in past decades, the United States is the single largest emitter of tourism-related carbon emissions, with other wealthy nations — Germany, Canada and Britain — also in the top ten.

But burgeoning middle classes have moved emerging economies up the ranking, with China in second place and India, Mexico and Brazil 4th, 5th and 6th, respectively.

International travel involving long-haul flights is among the fastest growing sectors, and could threaten efforts to reign in planet-warming carbon pollution.

The total number of air passengers is expected to almost double by 2036 to 7.8 billion per year, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

The aviation industry accounts for two percent of all human-generated C02 emissions, and would rank 12th if it were a country.

“We see very fast tourism demand growth from China and India over the past few years, and also expect this trend will continue in the next decade or so,” Ya-Sen Sun, a professor at The University of Queensland Business School in Australia, and co-author of the study, told AFP.

“Besides the sheer population number, what’s worrying is that people with a rising income tend to travel further, more frequently, and with a higher reliance on aviation.”

Stay close to home

International travel accounts for a quarter of tourism-related carbon emissions.

Neither tourism nor aviation are currently covered by the 2015 Paris climate treaty.

In 2016, however, 191 countries struck a deal — voluntary until 2027 — under which the aviation industry would curb most of its greenhouse emissions after 2020 by diverting about two percent of its revenue to reforestation and other carbon-reducing projects.

The 197-nation Paris Agreement calls for capping global warming at “well below” two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

With only one degree of warming so far, Earth has seen a crescendo of droughts, heatwaves, and storms ramped up by rising seas.

Voluntary national pledges made under the Paris pact to cut CO2 emissions, if fulfilled, would yield a 3C world at best, say scientists.

“Our analysis is a world-first look at the true cost of tourism, including consumables such as food from eating out and souvenirs,” said Malik.

Looking at its full “life cycle”, the researchers calculated that carbon emissions from tourism increased 15 percent in five years from 2009 to 4.5 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent, a measure that also takes into account other greenhouse gases such as methane.

On Monday, the UN’s climate chief said during UN climate talks in Bonn that it was “in the interest” of the tourism industry cut its carbon pollution.

“A lot of what it is selling — its products, if you like — depends on the preservation, conservation and protection of the environment, and avoiding the worst impacts of climate change,” Patricia Espinosa told journalists.

Curbing the growing appetite for tourism and travel may prove difficult.

“Behaviour change from travellers — travel less, stay close to home, pay carbon offset — are found to be slow and marginal,” said Sun.

“Carbon taxes or carbon trading schemes can help to put extra pressure to speed the process.”

A carbon pollution abatement that covered environmental costs, for example, would tack on an additional $425 (360 euros) to offset emissions from a round-trip flight from Sydney to London, the authors calculated.

“From the sustainability perspective, a restricted travel style may be required,” said Sun.

Nathee Kwanpae, director of the Samut Songkram Highway Area, said the new 5.12-kilometre-long bike lane was opened on April 28 and built for Bt22 million.

The lane parallels highway No. 3510 on the left side and has two lanes, each 1.5 metres wide.

Nathee said the department decided to separate bicyclists from the highway due to the high volume of cyclists previously using the highway on weekends to visit Kaeng Krachan Dam and the tapioca plantation development project under King Rama IX’s initiative.

He said tourists could also use the new bike lane from the kilometre marker 20+800 to 25+921 to visit a hot spring in Tambon Yang Nam Klad Nua.

The department in April 2017 opened a 6.5-km bike lane built in parallel with the 3510 highway from the kilometre marker 14+300 to 20+800.

Anan Wongbenjarat, Director General of the Department of Tourism (DOT) led a team of officials to visit local communities over the weekend to prepare for the mobile cabinet meeting in Buri Ram and Surin next week (May 7-8). The authorities also followed up on the DOT policies to support local efforts to improve tourism facilities such as wheelchair ramps, walkways, clean toilets, and information centres.

Tourism development to generate income for local communities will be one of the main topics of discussion during the mobile cabinet meeting next week.

During his visit, Mr Anan presided over the building of wheelchair ramps and walkways at the community souvenir shop of Ban Khok Mueang in Prakhon Chai District. The project adheres to the DOT’s Tourism ‘For All’ policy to improve accessibility for visitors across the board. He also handed over a number of bicycles to support community-based tourism in the region.

“It’s the policy of Mr Weerasak Kowsurat, Minister of Tourism and Sports, to garner support from every state agency looking after tourist attractions to help local communities improve facilities such as toilets, ramps, walkways, information centres, and other tourist infrastructures,” said Mr Anan. “He also works with communities and youth groups to keep their tourist attractions clean and garbage-free.”

As well as visiting Ban Khok Mueang, Mr Anan also visited Ban Sanuan Nok community in Huai Rat District to oversee tourist facilities, accessibility, accommodation, and services which include homestays and local guides.

He surveyed the So Krao Walking Street in Buri Ram’s Town District with aims to develop it further and support street food tourism. The DOT team also visited Chang International Circuit, the motorsport race track, where MotoGP Thailand 2018 will take place.

The DOT has supported the development of Buri Ram tourism by helping the province enhance its identity and by developing souvenir prototypes of T-shirts, cloth bags, keychains, throw pillows, note books, and hats for the Mueang Tam Sanctuary Collection.

In addition, the DOT has set up 19 QR Code signs at various tourist attractions in Buri Ram. When scanned, the QR Code will give visitors explanations about the sites, including addresses, photos, telephone numbers, infographics, and website links to the state agencies concerned.

The DOT has also certified 4 homestays in Buri Ram, namely Ban Khok Mueang Homestay in Prakhon Chai District, Mu Ban Thong Thiao Mai Sanuan Nok Homestay in Huai Rat District, Chumchon Sai Yao Homestay in Ban Nong Khruea in Town District, and Nong Ta Khem Homestay in Nang Rong District.

The study, which featured insights from more than 600 adult travellers in Thailand, found that Thais are the most frequent travellers in the region, with an average of 10.1 flights per year, followed by Japanese and Indians..

Conducted on behalf of Brand Expedia by Northstar, the study also revealed that while travel is generally enjoyable, annoying behaviour and unpleasant encounters can quickly ruin good vibes.

The survey was conducted online from February 22 to March 19, 2018 across North America, Europe, South America and Asia Pacific using an amalgamated group of best-in-class panels from across 23 countries.

On average, Thais take five one-way flights per year, with personal flights accounting for two-thirds of these flights and another third flying for business. Business travel is particularly high in Thailand, Japan and India. Economy class travel predominates, especially for personal trips, though US and Thai business travellers are the most likely to travel in premium economy or above.

Most travellers still prefer a printed boarding pass, with 47 per cent using print only, and 32 per cent using a combination of both print and mobile boarding passes, while 21 per cent use a mobile device. Thailand leads the way in choosing mobile-only boarding passes.

When it comes to passing a sleeping passenger, 42 per cent say they would wake them and ask them to move, 20 per cent would climb over with their back to them and facing them 23 per cent would just wait.

Travellers in Asian markets tend to be more likely to wake them and here again Thailand scored high with 59 per cent.

Nearly 30 per cent of passengers take off their shoes but not their socks and just seven per cent go barefoot on airplanes. The Japanese were the most likely to go barefoot, the Swiss and British topped the list in taking off their shoes but keeping on their socks while Mexicans, Thais, Italians and Spaniards were most likely to say that shoes should remain on.

Thais’ pet peeve when it comes to most annoying in-flight habits did not differ much from other travellers from other parts of the world.

Annoying passengers are the seat kicker/bumper/grabber, followed by the “Aromatic Passenger”, the Inattentive Parent, Personal Space Violator and the Audio Insensitive.

When checking into their hotel rooms, guests are mostly annoyed to find bed bugs, a used condom or cigarette smoke/foul smell.

The most annoying guests include Inattentive Parents, Hallway Hellraisers and the In-Room Revellers.

Travellers are closely divided between booking a flight first and then a hotel compared to a travel package with a flight and hotel while relatively few would book a hotel first. Thirty-seven per cent of Thais said they would book a flight first.

Likewise, choosing to stay at big chain hotels dominated in most markets as a first or second choice (Thailand scoring 52 per cent), with boutique hotels (Thais 44 per cent) and vacation/holiday rentals (Thais 33 per cent) as the next most popular option.

Wi-fi connection is by far the most important hotel amenity for global travellers and is the top hotel amenity for Thai travellers at 71 per cent, followed by complimentary toiletries (46 per cent), an in-room fridge (45 per cent), along with freebies such as spa credits and food/beverage credits (47 per cent).

“Thai travellers are no doubt frequent travellers who love to stay connected to their friends and families back home. It thus comes at no surprise that Wi-Fi emerged as the most important hotel amenity among Thais, ahead of even price and location”, said Lavinia Rajaram, Regional Head of Communications for Brand Expedia in Asia.

Despite being a price-sensitive group of travellers, it was surprising to see that only 38 per cent of Thais book their flights and hotels together as a package.

“Package bookings remain the single easiest way for travellers to make considerable savings, both domestically and internationally. By booking their flights and hotels together, Thai travellers enjoy up to 18 per cent off their travel costs,” Rajaram noted.

The focus on those Chinese tourists deemed to be of quality and with high purchasing power coincides with a plan to promote as destinations those cities seen as lagging on the second tier of tourism appeal.

The TAT plans to kick off the promotional campaign on Fliggy, a leading Chinese online travel service provider, after June, Yuthasak told The Nation in an interview.

The collaboration is part of the partnership struck between the Thai government and Alibaba last month, when the TAT signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Fliggy to promote Thailand to Chinese tourists and encourage them to spread out beyond the country’s main tourism centres.

He said the TAT would benefit from the partnership, especially with gaining access to the Big Data generated by Fliggy, which will share the information it gathers on Chinese tourists during their stay.

The TAT governor referred to Sesame Credit – a credit-scoring service from Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial – as a means for the tourism agency to access the social credit system in China, providing a database of Chinese tourists. Scores are awarded to Alipay users who opt into the program.

The credit rating system uses data from Alibaba’s services to compile a user’s score.

Chinese make up the largest group of visitors to Thailand and, on average, they spend more than other tourists – more than Bt5,000 per person a day, according to Yuthasak.

There are three objectives of the collaboration with Fliggy, the TAT chief said.

The first concerns an effort to increase the number of Chinese visitors who are considered to be of quality and have a high spending capacity. The plans to boost inflows into the less-visited cities and for the sharing of data on Chinese tourists and Thailand’s tourism point of interests (POIs) round out the goals.

Yuthasak said the TAT and Fliggy will select three to five cities from 55 second-tier cities designated for promotions.

The TAT early this year launched the “Go Local” campaign, a landmark project to promote 55 of the Kingdom’s emerging secondary destinations.

The aim is to better balance the distribution of tourist arrivals between urban and rural areas, even out the seasonality factor between the months of travel, and encourage more visits during weekdays.

Under the pilot project to start after June, a laggard city in terms of visitors would be selected for promotion on Fliggy, with a range of features including trip planning, booking services and tourist reviews.

With the MoU, the TAT will provide tourism information such as POIs and accommodation choices, tourism services such as spas, local tours and transport options in the chosen city.

One-stop convenience touted

Fliggy will put this information into a digital format for Chinese tourists as well as develop features to allow them to design their own trip itineraries under a one-stop-service on the Chinese platform.

Fliggy will share with the TAT all the information the site gleaned from the tourists during their stay.

The capability will allow the TAT to learn more about Chinese tourists, in terms of how much they spend, what products and services they like, and how long they stay and where they do so, along with their activities and their favourite places and the like, Yuthasak said. “We want to know where their money is spent and who benefits from this spending,” he said.

The TAT will use the Big Data shared with it to carry out precision marketing for customised promotion to individual tourists who want to plan their own itineraries rather than go with a group tour, he added.

Some 60 per cent of Chinese tourists travel as individuals, with the rest on group tours.

“The Big Data that we gain will be analysed in order to improve, adjust, and design promotions for specific groups of Chinese tourists,” the TAT chief said.

Under this approach, the TAT wants to see more growth in revenue from Chinese tourists rather than merely an increase in visitor numbers, but the agency wants both metrics to increase, said Yuthasak.

In 2018, the TAT aims to help deliver an increase in spending by Chinese tourist by up to 30 per cent via the partnership with Fliggy, outstripping a previous forecast for 23 per cent growth from last year, when receipts came in at Bt500 billion, he said.

The TAT is sticking with its 2018 target for growth in the number of Chinese tourists to 11 million, against 9.8 million last year. That year they accounted for 30 per cent of the 35.8 million tourist arrivals.

Critics have expressed concerns that Fliggy might monopolise the Chinese tourist market and affect local online travel agencies.

But the TAT governor counters that tourism operators and businesses can gain from the challenges posed by the Chinese operator’s presence.

“We are not forcing them to go on the Fliggy platform, but why don’t the local players see it [the platform] as a door to reach a huge market opportunity,” he said.

“Around 100 million Chinese travel abroad each year, and only about 10 per cent – or around 10 million – visit Thailand. So, we will convince Thai tourism stakeholders to join the platform, through related tourism associations.

“We also caution them on the need to pay attention to industry shifts and seek to improve their services.

“Thai tourism businesses need to adjust and adapt their business to conform with the tourism industry trends. If not Fliggy, then competition can also come from others offering similar platforms, given the trend for online-to-offline purchasing. And why not Fliggy, anyway?” said Yuthasak.

He said the TAT would not unduly favour Alibaba’s Fliggy operation, but the agency is also talking to US-based Internet titan Google and China’s Tencent for potential collaboration to boost Thailand’s tourism industry.

“If we do nothing, our tourism data will still be used by others. But if we partner with the online giants, we will be able to use their Big Data to improve and innovate with the products we offer and with promotions and the like,” Yuthasak said.

The new routes will meet travel demand from local people and tourists, thus contributing to regional trade and integration promotion, the Vietnamese carrier said on Monday.

The Hanoi-Taichung route will be operated with five return flights per week every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from June 22, with a flight time of around two-and-a-half hours per leg.

Flights depart from Hanoi at 1pm and arrive in Taichung at 4.30pm, local time.

Return flights take off at 5.30pm and land in Hanoi at 7.20pm.

The Danang-Daegu route will be operated on a daily basis from July 19, with a journey time of around four-and-a-quarter hours per leg.

Flights depart from Danang at 12.15am and arrive in Daegu at 6.30am, local time.

Return flights take off at 7.30am and land in Danang at 10am.

TOURISM experts and online travel platforms are welcoming the collaboration between e-commerce giant Alibaba and Thai tourism authorities to develop smart and digital tourism, although there are concerns over possible negative impacts.

Critics voiced concerns over a potential monopoly following a deal between Alibaba Group and Thai state agencies covering a number of areas, including tourism. Some also suggested the authorities needed measures to protect tourist attractions from an expected influx of foreign visitors.

Under a partnership deal on tourism, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) will expand cooperation with Fliggy, Alibaba’s online travel business and China’s leading online travel service provider, to focus on support for smart and digital tourism in Thailand. As an official strategic partner of TAT, Fliggy will work with the agency to offer smart technological experiences at multiple facilities and tourist attractions across Thailand for the convenience of visitors – ranging from online tour guides to electronic ticketing systems.

“In any case, like it or not, we cannot bar Alibaba from entering Thailand. So the best approach is to ensure local tour operators are well prepared for increased competition,” said former TAT governor Pradech Phayakvichien. “They should adjust their approach and work out how they could get the most benefits out of the collaboration,” he suggested. “In the digital era, we need technology to help connect us to the world and potential customers.”

“But the most important thing for Thailand is that we preserve and protect our tourist attractions,” Pradech said.

“We have to maintain or improve the standard of our [tourist attractions]. If we leave our beaches damaged, how could the Alibaba travel platform help us sell them?” he asked.

Prominent marine ecologist Thon Thamrongnawasawat said he expected the collaboration to bring changes in the proportion of Chinese tourists coming to Thailand. Whereas most Chinese now tour the Kingdom in groups, there is potential to also attract many more couples and individuals. That would make it easier to cope with the arrivals and better distribute income to local vendors. Thon said boosting the number of Chinese tourists or their spending here should not be the main objective for the partnership, as the figures are already high.

Statistics show Thai tourism relies heavily on Chinese visitors. As of April, 30 per cent of all foreign tourists arriving in Thailand this year were Chinese, according to Thon, who is a member of the National Policy Committee for Tourism. Estimates are that tourism this year will generate about Bt3 trillion in revenues – a third of which is expected to come from Chinese tourists, he said. However, there is still concern over a possible surge in Chinese tourists following the collaboration. Pradech said authorities need to put measures in place to restrict the number of tourists at attractions where there are risks of damage.

Thon, who sits on the committee drafting the national strategy on environmental issues, said the draft plan would limit the number of foreign visitors to national marine parks to six million a year, to help protect marine resources from swift deterioration brought by heavy tourism traffic. Out of the six million visitors, four million are expected to be from China. “We are already in a ‘tourism trap’. Around 10 million Chinese tourists visit Thailand every year and generate around Bt1 trillion. If they are dissatisfied with us, what will happen” to Thailand’s tourism industry?” asked Thon.

Partnering with Alibaba

Yuthasak Supasorn, TAT governor, said in a recent press release that the agency would partner with Alibaba for tourism marketing activities through the giant’s online platforms, as well as connect with Alibaba’s other marketing channels to develop “big data” for the Thai tourism industry.

The partnership would help increase the competitiveness of small and medium-sized tourism companies in terms of the development of new products and services that will attract more Chinese tourists to the country, he added. “We hope it will also help both new arrivals and return visitors from China discover emerging secondary destinations, so it is a ‘win-win’ situation for both parties,” he added.

Some critics voiced concern that Fliggy might monopolise the Chinese tourist market and affect local online travel agencies.

But others see a partnership with the giant firm in more positive terms, as an opportunity to expand the market. Amornched Jinda-apiraksa, CEO and co-founder of TakeMeTour, the largest marketplace for local tours in Thailand, said the collaboration would benefit Thai tourism in terms of getting more Chinese tourists into the country.

He said operating the travel business in the Chinese market is very challenging due to the language barrier and because Chinese tourists have specific behaviours and characteristics.

Amornched added that TakeMeTour this year planned to focus more on Chinese tourists, and that presents a good opportunity for Thai travel operators to offer their services and products directly to Chinese consumers on the Chinese platform.

The TAT has yet to give further details about the collaboration. Amornched said the format could be the opening of a Thai tourism shop or a flagship store on Fliggy.

TakeMeTour was one of six Thai start-ups and 37 Asian entrepreneurs joining the eFounders Fellowship Programme at Alibaba headquarters in Hangzhou, China, in March. Amornched said Alibaba has a strong ecosystem and his firm is willing to join the platform.

As a community-based online tourism platform that provides travel experiences in local communities around Southeast Asia, Somsak Boonkam, founder and chief executive of Local Alike, said his business may not be affected. That’s because the average Chinese tourist has no interest in community tours and only a small number have the taste for eco-friendly tourism.

Thon agreed. “You do not have to fear [about the Chinese platform snatching away customers.] The Chinese tend to buy Chinese goods, anyway,” Thon said.

As part of the collaboration, Fliggy and Ant Financial, Alibaba Group’s affiliate and operator of Alipay, are also in active discussions with various related government agencies to drive a digital transformation of Thai tourism.

Alipay, operated by Ant Financial, is China’s largest online payments and money transfer system, with more than 500 million active users. Thailand is among Alipay’s top three overseas-transaction hubs.

Somsak said using Alipay would help facilitate convenience to Chinese tourists with a familiar payment option when they travelled abroad. However, he urged the government to look into this matter carefully as there are concerns the system could allow massive outflows of money from the country.

Varithorn Sirisattayawong, research head for Kasikorn Research Centre, said Fliggy will help increase the number of Chinese tourists who choose Thailand through booking on the platform. It would benefit Thai banks and non-banks that offer international money transfers, payments and exchange, as they would receive additional transaction fees as the number of transactions increased.

Varithorn said the use of Alipay to arrange a visa on arrival and tourist tax refunds for Chinese tourists would not directly impact the business of Thai banks and non-banks.