TAT Organizes Competition for TravelTech Startups

The Tourism Authority of Thailand joins force with business partners to organize ‘TAT Startup’ contest to search for new generation entrepreneurs hoping to turn them into Travel Tech startups as to serve the growth of tourism industry and Thailand 4.0 policy.

In 2017, Thailand recorded 35.8 million tourist arrivals.  This year, more than 37 million tourists are expected to come to Thailand.

Mr. Yuthasak Supasorn, the TAT’s Governor, said the project is a part of driving Thailand into Thailand 4.0 with innovation. The TAT  that nowadays tourist behavior has changed a great deal. They rely heavily on the online review platform as well as ticket booking. Prior to that it takes a long time to do such thing but now they can make decision very quickly. He expected that the contest will help push up the TravelTech startup development to serve the growth of tourism industry.

According to TAT’s statistics, there were 35.8 million tourists coming to Thailand last year.  This year, more than 37 million tourists are expected to come to Thailand. If the tourism platform can create more engagement, it will help distribute more income to community.

Mr. Pariwat Wongsamran, Acting Director of Innovator  Development Department of National Innovation Agency (NIA), said the policy of Startup Thailand is about building ecosystem that support the growth of startups and create jobs. This follows the government’s policy in moving the country towards Thailand 4.0 by using innovation. According to NIA’s strategic plans, it is working on driving 4 key areas including SmartCity, HealthTech, AgTech, and TravelTech.

‘Startup may start a business with just 3-4 employees but within a year, it can be expanded to over a hundred employees in a year. Or, they may start the business with just 1-2 million baht initial buget but can be expanded to 10-20 million baht in a year too. This will create a positive impact to the country. Startup Thailand plans to attract more potential startups from overseas to Thailand while also strengthening capacity of Thai startups at the same time.

The contest is accepting application from 25 June to 31 July 2018. There are two categories: new business or business extension. Winnners will get cash prize, a trophy and booth exhibition at World Travel Market 2018 at London, United Kingdom. The total prize is worth 1.5 million baht. Interested participants can see more details at www.tourismthailand.org/startup