TAT launches Thailand in Your Hand apps

BANGKOK, 7 March 2012 — The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has launched a special webpage from which visitors can download apps for a wide range of smartphones to help them plan many different kinds of visit to Thailand, from honeymooning to studying martial arts and Thai culinary art.

A total of 19 apps are available for free download at http://mobile.tourismthailand.org for users of the iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry and Nokia. The apps will significantly enhance the quality of the visitor experience by making it easy to get around and saving visitors' time and money searching for information.

The apps are presently available only in English, but a unique “Speak Thai” app offers help with basic translations in traditional and simplified Chinese, French, Japanese, and Russian.

With the TAT targeting more first-time visitors, tTAT Governor Suraphon Svetasreni said these apps will go a long way towards helping travellers get around more comfortably without having to carry guidebooks. They can plan their journeys in advance, research their requirements and get assistance.

Altogether, the apps cover more than 10,000 topics in many areas; for example, medical tourism, Thai cooking classes and the sights and sounds of Chiang Mai and Phuket. One special app highlights just the “Top 50 Amazing Experiences in Thailand.”

Since smartphones became a global rage in 2011, the TAT has been studying and analyzing trends in their usage and popularity in terms of market penetration, ability to disseminate information and activities, build awareness, and organise more target-marketing activities for tourists and interested people worldwide.

A dedicated IT development team has been set up to create these special tourism-related apps under the global marketing theme, “Amazing Thailand: Always Amazes You.” The applications are full of interesting facts, travel tips and destination details; all available for free.

-- NNT 2012-03-07

I wonder if any of these apps include warnings of jet ski and tuk tuk scams? Probably not.

The most useful tool for a tourist would be a highly detailed map that shows every single road (not just main roads). It doesn't look like such an app is on that list. Are these new apps just extra advertising revenue channels for the TAT?

I wonder if any of these apps include warnings of jet ski and tuk tuk scams? Probably not.

"With the TAT targeting more first-time visitors..." Guess why?

Bit of a joke that this app can not be downloaded in China, given the amount of Chinese tourists that visit Thailand. Oh well I'll just have to wait till I get home.