Existing Senior Tourism in Thailand
Currently, the government does not try very hard to promote senior tourism in
Thailand, while some private sectors do it in different ways depending on their individual style
and target. For example, in the hotel industry, some hotels offer special discounts for the elderly,
such as Marriott hotels, Starwood hotels and Holiday Inn hotels for instance. Aside from hotels,
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other tourism product providers also offer some special service for senior tourists, such as Phuket
Fantasea which offers special seat allocation for senior tourist to be accessible; Sukko Spa offers
specific treatments for senior clients, which are appropriate for their physical and health
condition. At the airport, wheel chairs are provided for the elderly for both, arrival and departure
which can be requested upon booking or through the checking in process. Not only airports, most
of the airlines also provide privileges for the elderly on entering the aircraft they may go in first,
the same as passengers traveling with kids. The wheelchair service is also provided at the
department stores for the local elderly as well as senior tourists who would like to shop at the
department stores. But unfortunately, there is no other special services provided for senior people
aside from the wheelchair service yet, because many providers addressed elderly group the same
as the inaccessible group while senior demands are differently and sometime they need more service rather than only wheelchair.