Report said that Thailand’s tourism authority is targeting cryptocurrency holders from Japan.
It has been reported that the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) wants to establish the country as the first to go out of its way to welcome cryptocurrency holders, specifically those from Japan which it views as a regional hub of crypto activity.
However, the authority has conducted a feasibility study on implementing cryptocurrency payments at tourism destinations.
The report said that Thailand has been angling for well-heeled tourists ever since the collapse of the industry in the first quarter of 2020 when Asian nations began closing their borders in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Thailand hopes to implement crypto payments at tourist spots to attract well-heeled Japanese travelers to help revive the battered industry https://t.co/5Oe7LcTNi7 — Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) February 19, 2021
The Bangkok Post stated that Yuthasak Supasorn, the governor of TAT, said that cryptocurrency could be the key to attracting the high rollers.
Supasorn added:
“If we can prepare the country for the cryptocurrency market, it will help attract more opportunities from high-spending tourists, especially the young and wealthy generations.”
Likewise, he said that the use of cryptocurrency must comply with regulations from the central bank and measures must be designed to deter money laundering. The authority cites three-year-old figures for Japan as having an 11% crypto ownership rate, more recent 2020 figures from Statista suggest that it is closer to 4%.
Yuthasak even suggested that Elon Musk may want to visit the Kingdom with his firm has recently invested heavily in Bitcoin.
He added:
“Even Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla and a crypto influencer, might be interested in visiting Thailand.”
There are very few places around the country that actually accepts digital currencies as a payment method, although Thailand has been relatively open to cryptocurrency trading and has a number of exchanges such as Bitkub and the recently opened Upbit.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the tourism ministry was reporting tourist arrival figures close to 40 million per year.
Thus, this number has plunged, decimating the once-thriving industry as the country has remained largely closed to foreigners, as the TAT has revised its foreign arrival goal down to just 8 million.
Source: Cointelegraph