Permanent Secretary of the MoTS Mr Phongphanu Sawetrun disclosed that he recently visited a popular training facility in Phuket which provides Thai boxing training to foreigners and Thais.
He found out that there are currently many foreigners who are taking Muay Thai classes in Phuket, and adds that this is an opportunity that can generate large annual revenues to the country.
He added that there are an increasing number of foreigners becoming more interested in picking up Muay Thai, and that this target group is also in the category of quality tourists.
“Each person will spend a long time learning and practising Muay Thai and some of them will stay for about a year, so their spending is usually 50% higher than regular tourists,” he said..
“Thai boxing is a main activity in sports tourism and there is great opportunity in promoting it, as it is another type of tourism that can increase the country’s revenue in the future,” he added.