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Thailand’s SEXY tourism strategy bringing the visitors back

The SEXY - Safety and hygiene, Environmental sustainability, (E)xtra experiences and Yield - strategy of Thailand’s government seems to be being back tourists in growing numbers

Tourism in Thailand plummeted in 2020, with the SEXY strategy aiming to bring back lost customers

It was in February that Thailand’s government introduced its four-layered SEXY tourism strategy, with the effort seeming to pay off as tourists have been making travel plans in their droves.

Tourism is one of Thailand’s key economic generators, with visitors to the country contributing US$96m (€79.7m, £68.8m) to the national economy a year pre-pandemic. In 2020 more than 40 million visitors were predicted to visit the country but it wasn’t to be, with Covid-19 causing tourism figures to plummet. Year-on-year, the decline represented a drop of 74% in tourism bookings.

In response to this, Thailand’s government introduced SEXY - a four-layered tourism concept created to reshape the image of tourism in Thailand and to help restore confidence for its visitors.



‘S’ stands for ‘safety and hygiene’ as a matter of good public health safety, which has been backed by the existing Amazing Thailand Safety and Health Administration (SHA), a public-private sector cooperation to promote health and well-being for all in the kingdom.

‘E’ is for ‘environmental sustainability’, which the Tourism Authority of Thailand says reflects its existing strategy on sustainable tourism development.

‘X’ refers to ‘extra experiences’ and is in line with TAT’s existing strategy to introduce brand new products to visitors or reveal a new charming character of well-known destinations through creativity.

‘Y’ is for yield - a high-value form of tourism from a group of people with high-spending potential. Part of this strategy will also lead to a change in Thai tourism, moving from a mass tourism model and shifting towards responsible tourism with an emphasis on revenue-generating quality tourists.

Following the introduction of SEXY and the announcement of opening the country and the capital of Phuket to foreign visitors in October 2021, there was a surge in bookings, with sales up 110% compared to the previous week.

This increase was led by people from the UK, with British bookings representing 28% of overall sales, also coinciding with the announcement of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s road out of lockdown on February 22.

According to Forward Keys, in July, when Thailand is set to reopen to domestic visitors with no quarantine, forward tickets to Thailand witnessed a 90% month-over-month increase compared to June. This equals 4% of 2019 tickets levels compared to 2% the month before.

For the majority of travellers, bookings to visit Thailand are primarily set for Q4 2021, which is when the country is set to open for quarantine-free travel.

“This is an exciting opportunity for Thailand to apply some of its SEXY ideas,” said Jameson Wong, Director of APAC. “This strategy will attract and retain these travellers from newer source markets by doing fresh initiatives such as rural or gastro tourism in lesser-known parts of beautiful Thailand.”