Thailand will push health and wellness tourism and shopping to attract high-income tourists from Laos.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) plans to team up with Thai private hospitals and Lao influencers to promote the medical segment to high-income Lao tourists, Bangkok Post reported.
TAT will also partner with leading retailers such as Big C Supercenter, Central Group and The Mall Group to offer special deals for Lao customers at cross-border and Bangkok stores for a specified period.
The agency identified politicians, government officers and a new generation of businessmen as the drivers of Thai tourism from Laos. About 100,000 Lao tourists include those with high incomes.
Tourists in this group spend about THB 40,000-50,000 (USD 1320-1650 per) trip per person for a stay of four days, three nights, and they often come for shopping and beauty services. Other types of tourists spend an average of THB 30,000 (USD 990) per trip with the same length of stay, the paper noted.
Affluent Lao tourists usually travel from Vientiane to Thailand by crossing the border at Nong Khai province. Some visit the city of Udon Thani in Thailand before heading to other destinations such as Bangkok or Phuket.
Thailand saw a record-high 2 million visitors from Los in the first 11 months of this year, generating THB 50 billion (USD 1.64 billion). TAT believes the figure would grow by 5 percent from the previous year and 8 percent next year.
