TAT announces partnership with Grab

To utilise Big Data and drive Thailand’s travel industry 4.0 through the ‘Tourism Smart Data, the Time Is Now’ project

Bangkok, 26 February 2019 – The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and GrabTaxi (Thailand) have announced a strategic collaboration to exchange Big Data with the aim of building a smart data system as part of the ‘Tourism Smart Data, the Time Is Now’ project.

The agreement is in line with the government’s Thailand 4.0 policy of utilising technology to integrate information from both the government and the private sector to help move Thailand forward. The collaboration also includes co-creation of innovations to enhance local transportation and tourism as well as provide a better livelihood and increase sustainable income for local communities.

Mr. Yuthasak Supasorn, TAT Governor, said: “TAT realises the benefits of utilising digital technology to develop a smart data system that can better support tourism marketing and serve the needs of tourists. Therefore, we have initiated the project ‘Tourism Smart Data, the Time Is Now’ and partnered with GrabTaxi (Thailand), a leading technology company to join forces in driving Thailand’s tourism industry.

“With Big Data from GrabTaxi (Thailand), we can develop a smart data system for tourism, which will support our strategies and marketing plans to drive Thailand’s tourism industry forward effectively and embrace today’s world of technology.

“Our main goals are to attract the current group of tourists to revisit Thailand, expand new tourist targets, distribute tourism income to secondary provinces, and introduce new destinations to stimulate the market even further,” Mr. Yuthasak added.

Under the agreement, GrabTaxi (Thailand) will collaborate with TAT to drive the country forward following the government’s Thailand 4.0 policy. Its aim is to support the utilisation of the large amount of data that is already available to support the country’s development.

GrabTaxi (Thailand) will exchange Big Data collected anonymously over hundreds of thousands of daily rides from various services on the Grab app. This will give unparalleled insights into the behaviour and lifestyle of both Thai and international tourists, their favourite destinations, the length of stay, and travel patterns in Thailand.

GrabTaxi (Thailand) will also support the project with Grab Data scientists who will be working closely with TAT to drive the country forward following the government’s Thailand 4.0 policy.

According to Mr. Yuthasak, that the partnership between TAT and GrabTaxi (Thailand) will devise a tourism development plan as well as define the best approaches for using these insights to benefit all stakeholders in the Thai tourism industry in every possible dimension.

The plan includes building of a smart data system for tourism, creating innovations for transportation, and launching campaigns to promote local tourism nationwide. Each element will support the distribution of tourists and income to the local communities. This collaboration is a landmark public-private partnership to utilise data technology for sustainable development of the country and tourism.

Mr. Tarin Thaniyavarn, Country Head of GrabTaxi (Thailand) said: “TAT and GrabTaxi (Thailand) have a mutual goal of leveraging Thailand’s tourism industry and providing a better livelihood and sustainable income for local communities.

“This MOU is another strategic move in the continued collaboration between TAT and GrabTaxi (Thailand), following the previous partnership in several campaigns including ‘Grab Xi’ in the end of 2018 as well as the 39th Thailand Tourism Festival 2019 earlier this year, which was well responded by both Thai and international tourists,” Mr. Tarin said.

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This release was published on openPR.