TAT suspends 50:50 tourism promotion registration due to technical issues

The tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has suspended registration for the 50:50 tourism promotion via the website today for updates, after the system suffered technical disruptions.

The TAT said that the website, www.เที่ยวไทยคนละครึ่ง.com, is still operational for people who have already registered to claim their entitlements.

Tourism and Sports Minister Sorawong Thienthong said that those who unregistered can now apply via the “Thang Rath” application, adding that it is equipped with an identification system.

Meanwhile, TAT Governor Thapanee Kiatphaibool offered an apology for the disruption, saying that the system will resume normal operations within a week.

She explained that Thai tourists are required to confirm their identities via the ThaiID application, because there are limitations in the previous “Rao Taeo Duay Kan” application, which could be exploited for fraudulent purposes.

She said that the ThaiID app can handle 100 applications per second, while the Amazing Thailand app can handle 600, adding, however, that they failed because they were overwhelmed by the number of applications on the first day.

After successful registration, she said it was discovered that many people had not received their OTP codes via e-mail, particularly Gmail, because it has embedded security which interprets a flurry of emails as “spam” and blocks them.

Thapanee said that, by Wednesday, more than 390,000 people had registered for participation in the 50:50 tourism promotion and 3,800 of them have already used their entitlements to discounts on hotel rooms and food.