Sell premium: Thailand against discounts, wants high-value tourists

Thailand’s hotels, businesses, and private hospitals should refrain from offering big discounts to lure tourists and focus instead on raising the country’s value as a premium travel destination, government ministers said on Monday. Thailand has received about 2 million foreign visitors in the first six months of this year, a steady revival after its tourism industry almost collapsed due to the pandemic and more than 18 months of complex and costly entry requirements.

“We cannot let people come to Thailand and say because it’s cheap,” Deputy PM Anutin Charnvirakul said at an event at Bangkok’s main international airport to promote tourism. “Instead they should say ‘because it works, it’s reasonable’, that’s where we can increase…