Thailand didn’t fare really well with the COVID-19 pandemic. The country’s entire tourism industry managed to collapse on itself thanks to the pandemic. With this in mind, however, the country’s tourism industry has opted to target a new kind of market to try and revive it: Wealthy crypto holders from Japan.
Trying To Rope In Japan’s Big Crypto Fish
The Tourism Authority of Thailand, or the TAT, has gone out of its way to try and cater to this space. It plans on being the first country in the world to welcome crypto holders in a tourism-based sense. In particular, the TAT is aiming for Japan’s host of wealthy crypto owners, with the TAT seeing Japan as a regional hub when it comes to crypto activity. As a result of this, the TAT is in the process of investigating the possibilities surrounding crypto payment options within a tourism context.
It should be noted that Thailand as a nation has been targeting the wealthier part of the world ever since its tourism industry was crushed thanks to the pandemic back in 2020’s first quarter. Countries all across the world started to close their borders as each of them tried to keep their respective outbreaks under control.
Everything Must Be Approved Legally
Yuthasak Supasorn stands as the Governor of the TAT and gave a statement by way of the Bangkok Post, a Thai news outlet. In Supasorn’s statement, he stressed that the inclusion of cryptocurrencies could be the key to bring back the high rollers to Thailand’s tourism space. He highlighted that crypto integration could see the young and wealthy generation of high-spending tourists be drawn to the nation.
Of course, Yuthasak was quick to state that these crypto payments must first be allowed by the country’s central bank, with the payments following its regulations. Furthermore, he stressed that certain mechanisms must be put in place in order to help combat the potential for money laundering through this process.
Elon Musk Potentially Visiting The Kingdom
This is where things get odd. The TAT cited figures for Japan’s crypto ownership that are three years old, which showed that 11% of the country boasts crypto holdings. This figure isn’t the same as 2020’s, however, as the latest metric showed a crypto ownership metric of 4% of the population, according to Statista.
There were even suggestions that Elon Musk could visit the nation. Recently, the entire crypto market was jerked into a bull run thanks to Musk and his Tesla company including Bitcoin into their balance sheets, purchasing an incredible amount of BTC in the process.
It should be noted that Thailand as a country has very few establishments actively accepting crypto as payments. This comes despite the country’s overall positive view on cryptocurrencies, as well as boasting a number of crypto exchanges, such as Upbit and Bitkub.
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