Hanan Challouki
Last week, during the Thailand Travel Mart Plus 2015 in Bangkok, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) announced the launch of a new app, designed specifically for Muslim tourists. Thailand must realize that the Muslim-friendly market is rapidly increasing, as it is jumping aboard with this new initiative.
Thailand as a Muslim-friendly destination
The app launches on June 22th this year and will be available for both IOS and Android smartphones. What you can find in the app? Mosques, halal restaurants, shopping centres with prayer rooms, and so on. To sum it up: Any place that Muslims could possibly be looking for while they’re staying in Thailand. When launched, the app will be available in Thai and English, but new languages such as Arabic and Bahasa Indonesia will be added soon.
With this app, Thailand wants to profile itself as a Muslim-friendly destination. FTN News reported that Mrs. Juthaporn Rerngronasa, Acting Governor of TAT mentioned this during the opening session of Thailand Travel Mart Plus. “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’,” Mrs. Rerngronasa emphasized.
Right in time for Ramadan
Thailand is already the top destination for Middle East travelers in Asia. Amongst the non-Muslim countries it is ranked second in the world by the Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) of 2015. TAT is also looking forward to Ramadan, the annual fasting month of Muslims. “We also aim to attract Muslim families to spend the upcoming Holy Month of Ramadan in Thailand, especially in some of our South Thailand beach resorts: Phuket, which is gearing up to be a halal food center and Krabi which is positioning itself as a ‘dream destination for Muslims’,” Juthaporn Rerngronasa said.
Representatives of travel agencies and media from countries with a large Muslim population, such as Tunisia and Malaysia, were present on Thailand Travel Mart Plus. TAT was able to present its new app and discuss its latest ideas on attracting Muslim tourists.
