Malaysia-Thailand Self-Drive Tourism Flagged Off

Thailand and Malaysia have officially launched the cross-border, self-drive tourism caravan at The Zon Duty-Free Complex, located between the Sadao Checkpoint in Thailand’s Songkhla Province and the Bukit Kayu Hitam Checkpoint in Malaysia’s Kedah State. A caravan of 60 cars and motorcycles from Malaysia and Thailand, with more than 100 drivers and motorcyclists, lined up at the event’s venue for the official flag-off ceremony before commencing their Malaysia-Thailand overland route. The flag-off was officiated by Pattaraanong Na Chiangmai, TAT deputy governor for International Marketing – Asia and the South Pacific, and Dr. Yasmeen Yasim, Deputy Secretary-General (Tourism), Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Malaysia.

Malaysia-Thailand Self-Drive Tourism

Pattaraanong said, “The Royal Thai Government, through TAT and the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, always looks for an opportunity to drive an international relations policy by enhancing Thailand as a global tourism destination and encouraging cross-border tourism with neighbouring ASEAN countries, especially Malaysia.”

Malaysia is one of Thailand’s most significant source markets. From 1 January to 23 October 2024, Thailand recorded more than 4 million Malaysian tourists, with 49% entering through the Sadao Checkpoint. By the end of 2024, the number of Malaysian visitors to Thailand is expected to reach 5 million, while the number of Thai tourists to Malaysia is anticipated at no less than 2 million. This represents about 7 million in total.

Dr. Yasim said, “Malaysia is delighted to collaborate with Thailand in promoting cross-border tourism, aiming to enhance the tourism experience and foster greater cultural exchange between our two nations. This initiative, which seeks to achieve a target of at least 7 million cross-border tourist exchanges between the two countries by the end of 2024, reflects our mutual commitment to strengthening regional ties through tourism. Reflects our mutual commitment to strengthening regional ties through tourism.”

In conjunction with the upcoming Visit Malaysia 2026 campaign, which aims to attract 35.6 million tourist arrivals, this cross-border tourism initiative will play an important role in increasing the flow of visitors from Thailand to Malaysia. Through such collaborative efforts, Malaysia reaffirms its commitment to promoting seamless travel across borders, enhancing regional tourism cooperation within ASEAN and IMT-GT, and ensuring the sustainable growth of our tourism sectors.

This announcement of cooperation serves as an opportunity to welcome the tourism season for both countries. Thailand has prepared a series of magnificent tourism events in the Southern region to fulfil the Malaysian market’s needs from October 2024 until the beginning of 2025, including worldwide famous festivals, such as Loi Krathong Festival, New Year’s celebrations, and Chinese New Year. To provide guidelines for self-drive and border tourism lovers, Thailand and Malaysia have launched a Self-Drive Tourism Fun Map with detailed information about interesting tourist attractions and necessary facilities along the route. Interested tourists can access this information digitally and explore other Thailand-Malaysia and ASEAN connectivity routes.

Moreover, following the official visit to Malaysia by the Prime Minister of Thailand in October 2023, TAT has been driving the “IGNITE Thailand’s Tourism” policy, aiming to position Thailand as an ASEAN Hub, particularly in the tourism industry sector. TAT has adopted a strategy to encourage ease of travelling and enhance seamless connectivity with neighbouring countries through various modes of transportation. With this in mind, Thailand and Malaysia can take advantage of comfortable connectivity via air, land, water, and railway, contributing to an excellent opportunity to continuously promote two-way tourism and develop the economy between the two countries. In addition, TAT is planning to develop a tourism route with Malaysia, especially focusing on cross-border tourism and providing tourism products and services, including hotels, shops, restaurants, and tourist attractions that suit Malaysian tourists’ behaviour. Mega events will also be created to attract Malaysian tourists and encourage them to travel to other regions of Thailand apart from the Southern region, which is now conveniently connected.

TAT is also promoting rail tourism for Malaysian tourists, who can conveniently travel by train from Kuala Lumpur directly to Hat Yai Station in Songkhla. It is cooperating with the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) and Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) to provide a train route for the KTM Electric Train Service, commonly known as “ETS.” This service operates from KL Sentral Station to Padang Besar Station in Perlis before connecting to Hat Yai Station in Songkhla. Additionally, there is a charter train called “My Sawasdee,” on the route Kuala Lampur-Padang Besar-Hat Yai, available during long holidays, and TAT plans to encourage its regular service in the future. TAT anticipates that enhancing the potential and competitiveness of tourism connectivity with neighbouring countries through various modes of transportation will help achieve the government’s goals, including generating tourism revenue of 3.5 trillion Baht and increasing international tourist arrivals to 36.7 million by the end of 2024.