Bangkok, 19 August 2019 – The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has begun using the online tourism management system ‘Local Kit’, as part of its ongoing efforts to enhance the quality of and add value to community-based tourism in Thailand.
Local Kit (localkit.app) is a web application from Find Folk that is geared toward community-based tourism. It was designed to better and more efficiently manage tourism information at the community level, and at the same time, be an intermediary connection between those communities and organisations; such as, TAT.
Mr. Yuthasak Supasorn, TAT Governor, said: “Embracing the ongoing trend toward responsible tourism and sustainable tourism development, we expect to soon see the numerous benefits associated with using the Local Kit system. And by ‘we’ I mean TAT, the communities themselves, and the tourists who experience the travel-related products and services on offer.”
A key focus in the direction of Thailand’s tourism industry in 2019 is the promotion of responsible tourism with the aim of ensuring sustainability and preserving the local identity. This is in line with the TAT’s ongoing marketing communications concept of ‘Amazing Thailand: Open to the New Shades’.
Included within this are the aims of minimising the impact of ‘over tourism’, better spreading tourism flows and revenue on a wider and more even basis to reduce the gap between high- and low-income earners, and having all Thai people benefit from the tourism industry’s growth.
“Local Kit is well placed to help achieve these goals, and in doing so to boost Thailand’s tourism competitiveness. In today’s digital age where data is so valuable, the system covers all the necessities of complete tourism management; such as, bookings, accommodation and pricing,” Mr. Yuthasak added.
A pilot project using the Local Kit system offers community tourism nature-based experiences at two villages – Ban Tha Maprang and Ban Khlong Plaen – near Khao Yai National Park, in Mu Si Sub-district of Pak Chong district in the Northeast province of Nakhon Ratchasima. The two villages offer ecotourism experiences and demonstrate how the locals live in harmony with their natural surroundings.
*Ban Tha Maprang (Photo Credit: Facebook FindFolk)
