The Thai tourism authority planning its own utility token

The Thai tourism authority planning its own utility token

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has recently expressed interest in creating an indigenous utility token for capitalizing on the increasing popularity of cryptocurrencies.

The utility token is proposed to be named TAT after the agency’s acronym once it has navigated through the complex legal framework successfully.

The local daily, Bangkok Post, has reported that TAT has been in conversations with Thailand’s Stock Exchange, discussing its aspirations and how the transfer of value can be validated without having to introduce the speculative aspects of trading.

According to the news report, TAT coin would include the transfer of vouchers into digital tokens, which would assist operators in gaining “greater liquidity.”

TAT Governor, Yuthasak Supasorn, has stated that he highly values the potential that the crypto technology has offered. He believes that it is a” great opportunity for the Thai tourism industry”. Further, it would help boosting competitiveness in the short term by attracting crypto holders.

Supasorn has also added that the government has “to prepare digital infrastructure and digital literacy” among tourism operators of Thailand so that crypto tourism can be initiated.

Expressing their long term plans, TAT has said they would like to partner with Thai local Bitkub exchange and develop a full-fledged tourism platform featuring the TAT coin, and if possible, even include nonfungible tokens.

Although Thailand is on the pathway to becoming the first Southeast Asian country to formally enact a crypto legislation, NFTs are still not legal there.

The Thai government has said in the latest announcement that it would waive quarantine for travellers who are fully vaccinated. Further, those travelling to Bangkok and the other nine provinces starting November 1 will also be exempted from quarantining if they are wholly vaccinated. The plan would help revive its economy, which has been the slowest in East Asia and the Pacific and is due to recover after the pandemic.

Owing to the delay in tourist return due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Thai economy would most probably “require a longer time to rebound,” said a senior economist at World Bank for Thailand, Kiatipong Ariyapruchya.

Further, the World Bank has released the latest report on Tuesday, cutting Thailand’s economic growth forecast for 2021, bringing it down to one per cent.

At such a time, crypto-assets offer an alternative growth opportunity for the people of Thailand.