A southeast asian country Thailand is now targeting newly-minted crypto millionaires to breathe life into its pandemic-battered tourism industry.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand is working with the local cryptocurrency exchanges and country’s regulators to pave the way for the acceptance of digital tokens for travel, according to its Governor Yuthasak Supasorn. That may help the tourism-dependent nation to regain some of the $80 billion in lost revenue during the pandemic, he said.
“There are people who have become wealthy from holding digital currencies and they may want to use the wealth they have accrued,” Yuthasak said in an interview on Thursday. “If they can use their currencies here without having to exchange it, or be faced with government taxes, then it would create convenience for them.”
Thailand, with a population of almost 70 million people is very popular among travellers, holidaymakers for its tropical islands dotted with pristine beaches food and a vibrant nightlife, drew almost 40 million foreign travelers in 2019, who generated more than $60 billion in revenue. But the pandemic saw the country shut down its borders for more than a year before reopening to vaccinated travelers from last month.
“If Thailand is looking to recover about 80% of its pre-pandemic tourism revenue in 2023 but with half the number of foreign tourist arrivals we saw in 2019, we can achieve that by getting someone like Russell Crowe or a crypto holder like Tim Cook to travel here,” Yuthasak said.
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