Travel & Tourism

Mission. Promote the travel and tourism markets in Thailand and the U.S. by facilitating communication and developing business between Thailand’s private and public sector, and within the AMCHAM community of businesses.

2017 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

In addition to promoting the Thai market, the TTC worked to support outbound travel from Thailand and the Greater Mekong Sub-Region (GMS) to the U.S. and promote the U.S. as a tourist destination. This effort included cooperation with U.S. Commercial Services officers within the U.S. Embassy to enhance and
support “Brand USA” and ongoing B2G ventures.

The Committee also successfully migrated the Phuket Chapter to the Travel & Tourism Committee in Bangkok, and drew new membership from the Phuket Hotels Association which has more than 50 member hotels in Greater Phuket.

The Committee’s events kicked off in January with the Thailand Tourism Forum (TTF) 2017 at the InterContinental Bangkok, with 550 delegates in attendance. The event was co-organized with C9 Hotelworks with strong sponsorship from Horwath, QUO, JLL, STR and Delivering Asia Communications.
In February, Police Col. Acharyon Kraithong, Deputy Commander of the Royal Thai Tourism Police presented “Road Safety and Safety & Security Intelligence” in cooperation with the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce in Thailand (JFCCT).

During the summer months, Committee members attended “The New Excise Tax and Its Implications” seminar, opened by Wisutr Srisuphan, Deputy of Minister of Finance, and Khun Nuttakorn Uthensutr, Director of Tax Planning, Excise Department, who spoke on the new Excise Act. The seminar was hosted by the Customs & Excise Committee in cooperation with the BCCT, and several hospitality suppliers and operators attended to find out how it would affect their businesses. The Committee also supported the 2nd “Digi.travel Thailand International Digital Tourism Conference & Expo.”

In September, the Committee provided support for Atlanta, Georgia-based International Society of Hospitality Consultants’ (ISHC) Annual Conference with Khun Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, Minister of Tourism and Sports as an invited guest and speaker.

The Committee hosted the “Sustainability Trends in Hospitality” Conference in cooperation with the Thai Hotels Association in October. And in November, in cooperation with AustCham, the Committee hosted Khun Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, Minister of Tourism and Sports, who gave a presentation on the current state and future outlook of tourism in Thailand and efforts to regionalize the tourism industry.