Thailand outlines seven policies to steer tourism toward higher value
At a July 27 board meeting, the tourism minister set priorities on quality over volume, income for secondary cities, year-round travel and global events such as Tomorrowland.
On Monday, July 27, 2026, Minister of Tourism and Sports Surasak Phancharoenworakul met the board and senior executives of the Tourism Authority of Thailand and laid out seven policies for the sector. The framework carries the name "Tourism for All, Tourism for the Future," and its core idea is a shift in what success looks like: a meaningful, high-value destination rather than a race for the biggest arrival numbers.
The first policy sets the tone. Value over volume. Instead of leaning only on how many people land each week, TAT is asked to sell meaningful travel experiences and raise the value each visitor brings. For a country that has often measured tourism by headline counts, that is a quiet but real change in emphasis.
The second policy spreads the benefit wider. Thailand wants to push travel beyond its best-known beaches and into secondary cities and 55 target communities across the country, so that tourism income reaches the grassroots and not only the big hubs.
Keeping the country busy all year is the third priority, and it comes with concrete projects. The Thai Tiew Thai Plus co-pay scheme is meant to stimulate domestic trips. Fly Thai All the Feelings, run with six domestic airlines, offers discounted fares across 400,000 seats to ease the cost of flying at home. A third project, Thailand Air Connect, works with carriers to keep flights stable and add frequency and seats on charter and scheduled routes.
Big events form another part of the plan. Thailand will host the Tomorrowland music festival from 2026 to 2030, which the ministry expects to generate net economic value of 3.458 to 5.301 billion baht a year, with at least 127,500 international and 22,500 Thai participants. The remaining policies focus on TAT's own governance, a clean handover as the agency moves under the Ministry of Culture, and long-term readiness for a fast-changing world.
For a visitor, the phrase "high-value, meaningful travel" is not abstract. It usually means going past the resort gate: a secondary town, a community market, a quieter stretch of coast reached on your own schedule. That is exactly the trip these policies want to encourage, and it is the trip that depends on being able to move freely once you arrive.
This is where Balm Rentals fits alongside Thailand's own efforts. When a traveller wants to reach one of those 55 communities or a secondary city off the main tourist track, a reliable bike, scooter or car is often the difference between seeing a place and skipping it. Balm brings verified local operators into one marketplace, with the price, deposit and conditions shown clearly before booking and in the traveller's own language. No passport held as security, no guessing at insurance terms.
That approach supports the same goal the ministry describes: a better quality experience, spread more evenly across the country. Local rental shops stay at the heart of it. Balm simply makes their offers easier to compare and book, on iOS and Android, so a first-time visitor can plan the independent part of a trip with the same confidence as the flight.
The seven policies are a direction rather than a finished plan, and much of the detail will be worked out with airlines, communities and partners over the coming seasons. The signal is clear enough: Thailand is betting on the quality of each journey, not only the number of arrivals.