Thailand races to launch three low-season travel schemes

Thailand’s Tourism and Sports Ministry is accelerating plans for three tourism stimulus programmes in an attempt to launch them during the low season in September and October 2026, rather than waiting until the end of the year.

Tourism and Sports Minister Surasak Phancharoenworakul said on July 31 that the ministry planned to discuss funding with the Finance Ministry under an emergency borrowing decree authorising loans of up to 400 billion baht.

 

The ministry is considering this funding route instead of waiting for the central budget for fiscal 2027, which could delay implementation until the high season.

The three programmes would require a combined budget of 2.45 billion baht and are projected to generate about 56 billion baht in tourism revenue.

Thai Tiew Thai Plus co-payment scheme (Thai Travel Thai Plus)

The “Thai Tiew Thai Plus” (Thai Travel Thai Plus) programme would offer tourism subsidies through a co-payment system, with the government and participating travellers each covering 50% of eligible expenses.

The ministry expects the programme to become available by the end of 2026 and to cover hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions, One Tambon One Product shops, spas, health-massage services, one-day tour packages, rental cars, public transport and chartered boats.

The proposed conditions are:

• The programme would be available in all 77 provinces.
• A total of 500,000 entitlements would be offered.
• Each traveller could receive up to five entitlements.
• Hotel subsidies would be capped at 3,000 baht per entitlement.
• Additional coupons would be worth up to 500 baht per entitlement.
• The programme would require a budget of 1.75 billion baht.
• Funding would be sought from the government’s 2026–2027 budget.
• The scheme is projected to generate an economic impact of 32.046 billion baht and tax revenue of 1.6 billion baht.

Discounts for domestic air travel

The second programme, “Fly Thai All the Feelings”, would subsidise domestic airfares to encourage travel to secondary destinations connected with major tourism centres.

It would provide discounts for 400,000 seats, with passengers receiving 400 baht off each flight to a major destination and 600 baht off each flight to a secondary destination.

Discounts would be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, with participating airlines distributing promotional codes for ticket bookings.

Six Thailand-based airlines operating domestic services would participate.

The programme would require 200 million baht and is expected to encourage at least 200,000 people to travel if the discounts are used for return journeys. The ministry estimates it could generate about 1.6 billion baht in economic activity.

Support for international flights

The “Thailand Air Connect” programme would support charter and scheduled commercial flights from overseas markets.

The ministry is seeking 500 million baht to conduct joint marketing with commercial airlines and charter-flight operators covering at least 600 flights.

The programme targets:

• At least 87,000 passengers on charter flights.
• At least 400,000 passengers generated through joint promotions with commercial airlines.
• A combined total of at least 487,000 travellers.
• Tourism revenue of at least 23.16659 billion baht.

“If we have to wait for the fiscal 2027 central budget, these measures may not begin until the end of the year at the earliest, when the high season has already started,” Surasak said.

“That would mean missing the opportunity to stimulate the market in September or October 2026, which falls within the low season.”

Ministry seeks emergency funding route

Surasak said the 400-billion-baht borrowing facility was divided into two allocations.

The first 200 billion baht is intended to support Thailand’s transition to renewable and clean energy, while the remaining 200 billion baht is earmarked for urgent assistance to households and businesses affected by the energy crisis.

The three tourism measures could qualify for funding from the second allocation, which was previously used for the “Thais Help Thais Plus” consumption co-payment programme.

Surasak said tourism businesses and airlines had been directly affected by the Middle East crisis and higher energy prices, which had increased operating and fuel costs.

All three programmes were endorsed by a meeting of the ministry’s public-private sector committee in July.

The Tourism and Sports Ministry will discuss the final budget details with Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas next week before submitting the proposals to the Cabinet for consideration by the end of August 2026.

“If the first phase succeeds, the ministry plans to introduce a second phase of tourism stimulus measures during the next low season,” Surasak said.