Thailand is laying the groundwork to become a “crypto-positive society” with the aim to attract crypto holders and boost its tourism industry. It hopes to recover $80 million in tourism revenue lost due to the Covid-19 panic and subsequent shutdown.
Thailand Wants to Attract Crypto holder
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is working with the country’s regulators to make it easier and more convenient for visitors to spend cryptocurrencies in the country, Bloomberg reported Saturday citing TAT Governor Yuthasak Supasorn.
The governor detailed, “There are people who have become wealthy from holding digital currencies and they may want to use the wealth they have accrued,” elaborating:
It would be convenient for them to use their currency here, without the need to exchange or face government taxes.
His explanation was that Thailand’s tourism authority has been preparing for cryptocurrency acceptance. It plans to be in place when global travel resumes to its normal state.
According to the Governor, this plan has already been discussed with the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission, Bank of Thailand, and Bitkub Online Co. (the largest cryptocurrency exchange in Thailand), the governor said.
He said that the authority would also set up another unit to issue its own cryptocurrency tokens and create a wallet. This will help build a new tourism industry. Thailand does not currently recognize cryptocurrency, like bitcoin or ether as legal tender.
Thailand’s tourism authorities aims to recover some $80 billion of lost revenue from the Covid-19 pandemic. Thailand attracted more than 40 million international travelers in 2019 and generated $60 billion of revenue.
The pandemic caused the country to close its borders for over a year. The country recently granted travel authorization to immunized travelers.
Yuthasak suggested that Thailand could recoup about 80% of its pre-pandemic tourism revenue in 2023 with only half the number of foreign tourists in 2019 “by getting someone like Russell Crowe or a crypto holder like Tim Cook to travel here.”
He expects Thailand’s tourism industry to return to pre-Covid levels by 2024, adding that the country is targeting about 1 million high-spending tourists in the first quarter of next year. In the meantime, the authority expects that 10 percent of crypto owners will ultimately travel to Thailand.
TAT Governor opined that:
We must promote crypto in Thailand to encourage this growing group of tourists.
How do you feel about Thailand being a crypto-positive country? Please comment below.
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