TAT addresses issues in 'Half-Half Thai Travel 2025' scheme registration

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) clarified three main issues regarding the 'Half-Half Thai Travel 2025' scheme on Wednesday, aimed at boosting the Thai tourism sector during the low season.

This clarification follows the first day of registration on Tuesday (July 1), which saw over 5.9 million people sign up for the scheme.

TAT Governor Thapanee Kiatphaibool outlined the first issue encountered during the registration process, which was a bottleneck due to the system design. 

Registrants are required to verify their identity via the 'ThaID' system, alongside registering through the 'Amazing Thailand' app to enhance transparency and prevent fraud, as seen in the 'Rao Tiew Duay Kan' (We Travel Together) scheme.

However, the two apps had differing user capacity speeds, which caused delays. The ThaID app can support 100 sessions per second, while the Amazing Thailand app supports up to 600 sessions per second. 

To address this, TAT has modified the system flow to bypass the ThaID verification during the initial registration process, enabling users to input necessary details. However, identity verification through ThaID will still be required when checking in at the selected hotel.

“We are implementing this to prevent fraud and misuse, as we encountered issues in previous projects like ‘Rao Tiew Duay Kan’,” Thapanee said.

In relation to the 'Rao Tiew Duay Kan' project, 1,489 cases have been filed, including charges of fraud and violations under the Computer Crime Act, resulting in damages amounting to 2.34 billion baht, with 16.5 million baht already recovered.Secondly, Thapanee acknowledged delays in receiving OTPs due to the activation of the new email domain, verify.tat.or.th, which caused a high volume of verification emails to be sent simultaneously. This led to spam protection mechanisms from major email providers causing delays for some users.

To resolve this, TAT has adjusted internal settings in Google Workspace and Google Postmaster to gradually lift restrictions on emails from @tat.or.th, and the number of successful identity verifications has already started to increase.

“To resolve the OTP delays, we anticipate that the issue will be fully addressed within seven days. Meanwhile, we advise the public to use other email services such as Hotmail and Yahoo to register for the scheme,” she added.

Lastly, regarding concerns over possible price hikes by hotels participating in the 'Half-Half Thai Travel' scheme, TAT will have officials monitor hotel room rates to ensure they are in line with the scheme's guidelines. 

Hotels can only increase their rates by a maximum of 10% compared to the same period last year, reflecting the rising operational costs due to the economic situation.

Participating hotels can set two rates: one for weekdays and one for weekends and public holidays. Dynamic pricing, as seen on online travel agency (OTA) platforms, is not permitted.

The 'Half-Half Thai Travel' scheme is designed to subsidise 40-50% of hotel costs for the public, up to 3,000 baht per night, depending on whether the stay is on a weekday or a holiday, and whether the hotel is located in one of the 22 primary or 55 secondary provinces. 

If TAT finds any hotel charging unusually high rates, it reserves the right to suspend that hotel's participation in the scheme. TAT officials will also be monitoring pricing, and participants can report any overpricing directly to TAT for immediate action.

“We sincerely apologise for the registration system issues, but we are encouraged by the strong public interest in this programme. It’s clear that Thai citizens are eager to support domestic tourism,” Thapanee concluded.

TAT expects the scheme to generate significant economic benefits, with an estimated 100,000 tourists participating, contributing 14.12 billion baht to the tourism sector.

The project is expected to increase domestic travel between July and October 2025 to 69.3 million trips, up by 2.67 million compared to the same period last year, generating an overall economic impact of 35.03 billion baht, creating 40,669 jobs, and contributing 1.86 billion baht in tax revenue.

(2025/07/03-00:00)