Thailand voted best cultural and heritage holidays destination

In his national address on September 14, 2018, Prime Minister General Prayut Cha-o-cha referred to the Travel Bulletin Star Awards 2018, which honored Thailand as the best cultural and heritage holiday destination. 

According to the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), "Amazing Thailand” received a place as a finalist in the "Star Online Training Course” category. The Star Online Training Course award for Amazing Thailand holds extra significance, as it represents the first time for an Asian destination to have made it into the winners’ line up for this particular category.

This year’s 22^nd edition of Travel Bulletin Star Awards 2018 was the biggest yet, celebrating destinations, tourism boards, hoteliers, cruise lines, airlines, and other sectors of the global travel industry. The ceremony to announce the awards took place in London on September 10. 

Prime Minister General Prayut said that over the past decade, Thailand’s tourism income has increased by almost 10% on average. It has continued to rise, in particular, since the easing of political conflicts in the country.

In 2014, Thailand earned 1.14 trillion baht from tourism revenue, which is expected to reach two trillion baht by the end of 2018. Last year, international tourist arrivals rose to almost 36 million, making Thailand among the top ten fastest growing travel destinations.

The Prime Minister said that the Government attached great importance to distributing tourism income to the regional areas of the country, linking with the value chain at all levels. For example, it has emphasized tourism promotion in secondary tourist cities in 55 provinces across Thailand.

The policy aims to create more jobs in rural areas and ensure a better distribution of tourism earnings. Taxpayers will be allowed to deduct the value of travel expenses worth up to 15,000 baht from personal income taxes for their tourist spending in the 55 provinces between January 1 and December 31, 2018.