Thailand in Islamic tourism push with dedicated app
The Tourism Authority of Thailand is the latest national destination marketing agency aiming to tap into the lucrative Islamic tourism market.
TAT is to launch its first dedicated Muslim tourism app on June 22, which will offer information on locating mosques, Halal restaurants, hotels, prayer rooms, and other Muslim friendly services in the country.
It will be available on iOS and Android initially in Thai and English with plans to expand the content to Arabic and Bahasa Indonesia in the near future.
It was unveiled at the recent Thailand Travel Mart Plus trade event in Bangkok before specially invited Islamic travel industry leaders from countries including Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Oman, the UAE, Turkey, and Singapore.
"This is a very special and historic moment for us, as it marks the launch of a new strategy to more strongly position Thailand as a "Muslim-friendly destination," said TAT acting governor Juthaporn Rerngronasa.
"A new borderless ASEAN will emerge from 2016 onwards, after which we project a huge increase in Muslim visitors from our ASEAN neighbours to the South, specifically Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei."
The global Muslim travel market is forecast to be worth $192 billion by 2020, according to a report commissioned by Halal travel website Crescentrating.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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