That's the vision of the Tourism Authority of Thailand - to adopt new technology to facilitate visitors, by offering them better tourism information.

To make it easier for visitors to get tourism information, the authority is now researching how to provide this information through mobile phones, said Phanom Kaributra, the executive director of the information technology office at TAT.

He said the authority would work with partners to implement what he called information access points, around, for example, the airport area. Once travellers arrive in Thailand, they could just use their mobile device to find information from the access point area.

"This way it would be easier for them to get information related to tourism, and it's also a channel to promote the Thai tourism industry," he said.

He said the new service, which would be available free of charge, would be an alternative for visitors who do not want to look for information from brochures.

"We believe that visitors would find it easier to access tourism information and they could carry the information with them all the time. This would make their trip to Thailand more enjoyable," said Phanom.

In addition, to promote the local tourism industry, Phanom said the authority has also set up a portal site, called www.ThailandHotDeal.com, as an electronic-marketing campaign for the Tourism Thailand project. The project aims to support businesses and communities in the six provinces that suffered from the tsunami. They can promote and distribute local products for sale through the website at no charge.

Jirapan Boonnoon

The Nation