Baidu and TAT join forces to promote Thai tourism to wealthy Chinese
Chinese internet giant Baidu and the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) have signed a MoU on tourism co-operation in a bid to make travel easier for Chinese tourists visiting Thailand, as well as lure self-guided individual travellers from China with high spending power. Baidu unveiled the newly upgraded Baidu Map, a popular mapping app in China, that will now be available for those Chinese visiting Thailand. On arrival there would be a push notification from the Baidu Map on the smartphones of the Chinese visitors welcoming them, said Baidu's Zhang Jing. With the added data from TAT, the app will help them find the location of tourist attractions, restaurants and services.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and the Chinese search engine giant Baidu have joined hands to promote Thailand’s tourism industry among Chinese tourists.

Under the cooperation the Chinese search engine giant officially launched its travel map called Baidu Map application for outbound Chinese tourists, primarily expected to attract Chinese self-guided individual travellers with high spending power.

As The NNT reported, the cooperation agreement was signed yesterday between TAT Governor Yuthasak Supasorn and Mr Hu Yong, general manager of Baidu’s International Business Unit.

Baidu Map provides users with information about tourist attractions, transportation, restaurants as well as products and services available in Thailand in Chinese and Thai languages.

Through the GPS system, it also displays street addresses of tourist places both in Thai and Chinese.

With over 500 million users worldwide at present, Baidu Map is considered an effective channel for Thai tourism operators to reach Chinese-speaking customers.

The app is expected to attract more visitors from China and, in turn, bring Thai-Chinese relations even closer.

The Bangkok Post reported that TAT governor Yuthasak Supasorn said the number of Chinese tourists visiting Thailand is expected to reach 10 million this year, an increase from 8 million in 2015, generating 509 billion baht in revenue, up 35%.

The application would help to increase tourism income by at least 20 per cent, from the current spending of Chinese visitor of around 5,000 baht per person.

The cooperation between TAT and Baidu should help draw in more quality Chinese tourists to the country, which many want to see it happen, he said.

Director of the international business development department at Baidu Inc Mr Richard Lee said Baidu is now working with the TAT to develop service apps to provide information about popular tourist attractions with audio.

Baidu Map is available in Mandarin Chinese and Thai. It offers maps of Thailand’s tourist attractions, restaurants and hotels for a combined 17,000 places.