The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), together with key public-private sector partners, are jointly launching a "Happy Shopping” campaign to stimulate inbound travel and tourist spending for travelers originating from key source markets in East Asia.

According to TAT, the Happy Shopping initiative targets international visitors from China, Japan, the Republic of Korea (RoK), Hong Kong, and Taiwan (China), with highly strategic promotional activities that include sales on tourism products and services.

Running from now until October 31, 2019, the campaign will include special offers and deals on tourism products and services. It will also offer "on top” discounts as well as privileges added to any existing discounts already available for tourists at various shops and businesses around Thailand.

These include branded goods and souvenir items that are popular in the source market countries. Visitors will be entitled to discounts and privileges by only showing their passports to receive the discounts or giveaways from participating restaurants, shopping malls, department stores, duty-free shops, and spas.

In 2018, Thailand recorded almost 15.7 million tourists from China, Japan, the RoK, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, up 8 percent over the previous year.

They generated 867.340 billion baht (about US$ 28,279 million) in total revenue, comprising 142.295 billion baht spent on food and beverage and 199.234 billion baht spent on shopping. The average spending per trip of this market was 53,150 baht per person.