Greater uptake of IT solutions among Thai travel trade

THAILAND’S tourism industry is showing stronger interest in adopting digital technologies to enhance their businesses, but many are still staying away due to cost concerns.

Speaking at the Asia Pacific Digital Travel Forum held at The Landmark Bangkok Hotel last Friday, Pirasan Punyagupta, representative of the Software Industry Promotion Agency (SIPA) in Thailand, noted growing demand for IT across the kingdom, which the agency is trying to match with new support centres.

It already runs seminars and workshops in major cities, which are attended by a range of travel and tourism professionals, from hoteliers to tour operators, looking for B2B and B2C channels, as well as more effective means of business management.

Pirasan noted that independent hotels in Thailand were paying more attention to direct online booking mechanisms due to the fact that commissions were eating into their profit margins.

Recognising that affordability remains a key issue for SMEs, SIPA recommends cloud computing solutions and remote support services to help IT newcomers keep their capital investment fees down. Pirasan assured that the adoption of such solutions would eventually result in falling costs and rising profits as they help reduce waste costs and plug losses.

The agency is also working to promote online and electronic payment systems in Thailand, added Pirasan, who expressed his concern about the reliance on cash payments and bank transfers among small tourism businesses. While such payment methods suffice to serve the domestic market, international visitors do not trust the system.

“(Tourism) operators must introduce internationally accepted gateways such as PayPal to ensure security,” he said. “Small tourism businesses are losing guests because of trust (issues) over payments. They need a secure and flexible payment mechanism that can factor in different tariff structures and issue refunds.”

Reporting by Timothy France

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