Thailand sets August for first "month for women travelers"

Thailand has chosen August 2016 to launch its first ever women oriented month-long travel festival, during which there will be many events and special discount on products and service, Thai Tourism Authority said here on Thursday.

According to a press release, the tourism authority has arranged many events, such as a women golf challenge, a Thai fabric fashion show and has invited women photographers, reporters, celebrities and social media influencers around the world to visit the country in August.

Besides, the tourism authority have also invited a lot of companies including airlines, hotels, spa and massage parlors to offer a discount on their products or service for women customers.

An official from Thai immigration bureau said that pink immigration lanes will be set only for women visitors at five major international airports across Thailand during the month.

A mobile phone application called "women's journey" which provides women travelers with detailed information of those products and service on sale in English is developed for the travel month.

Deputy governor of the tourist authority Srisuda Wanapinyosak told Xinhua that they are also working on the Chinese version.

The numbers of female arrivals to Thailand have risen sharply in recent years, averaging 11.4 percent during the period of 2007-2014.

The tourism authority said it is often the woman in a family who make main decisions, so they have been working on marketing strategies to tap this potential female travel market by encouraging more female visitors to Thailand and more Thai women to travel domestically.

"We've designated August 2016 as 'month for women travellers'to encourage the growth of global and domestic female traveler segment in conjunct with our strategy to promote Thailand to be a quality leisure destination," said Yuthasak Supasorn, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Tourism accounts for about 10 percent of Thailand's GDP. Tourism Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul said early January that visitors to Thailand are expected to rise to 32 million in 2016. That would be more than 7 percent higher than the 29.88 million that visited the kingdom in 2015, which created a revenue of 2.21 trillion baht (63.21 million USD), reports said.

According to Thai Ministry of Tourism and Sports, the total number of foreign visitors to Thailand increased some 15 percent in the first quarter of 2016, while the largest share, nearly 30 percent of the total, are the Chinese tourists and their number surged about 32 percent.

The women travel month is arranged for August to celebrate Thai Queen Sirikit's 84th birthday, which falls on Aug. 12. Endit