There’s something reassuringly old-fashioned about the idea that a good meal can change everything. Not just your mood, but also your entire tourism strategy if you’re in Thailand.
At Bangkok’s polished The St. Regis Bangkok, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) gathered chefs, marketers and industry watchers for a conversation that, on the surface, was about food. In reality, it was about something far more valuable: how to turn flavour into currency.
The seminar, “Flavours of Charm: Shaping Thai Tourism through the MICHELIN Guide,” might sound like marketing poetry, and it is, but behind it sits a strategy that is increasingly hard to ignore. Thailand isn’t just serving meals anymore. It serves as a reason to stay longer, spend more, and come back hungry.
And travellers, it seems, are buying it.
Where the plate meets the bottom line
For more than nine years, TAT has worked alongside the MICHELIN Guide, that discreet little red book which can make or break reputations faster than any advertising campaign ever could.
GOAT Restaurant WORKSHOP
What was once about prestige has quietly evolved into policy.
According to insights drawn from “Beyond the MICHELIN Stars” a 2025 report by Ernst & Young food is now firmly in the driver’s seat when travellers choose where to go. Nearly three-quarters look for MICHELIN-listed restaurants before booking. Even more telling, most are willing to extend their stay just to eat their way through a destination.
It’s a simple equation, really. If the meal is worth the trip, the trip becomes longer. And longer trips mean fuller hotels, busier tours, and healthier balance sheets.
A strategy with a human touch
Nithee Seeprae, TAT’s Deputy Governor for Marketing Communications, framed it neatly, though in a way only tourism officials can.
“Amid global uncertainties and intensifying tourism competition, TAT is committed to driving Thailand’s tourism industry toward high-quality growth under the concept ‘Healing is the New Luxury.’ This approach focuses on delivering meaningful experiences that rejuvenate the body, mind, and soul. Thai culinary culture is one of the country’s key strengths, reflecting identity, craftsmanship, and local wisdom, and can be further developed into a vital mechanism for creating high-value tourism experiences.”
Strip away the policy language, and the message is clear: people don’t just want to travel anymore, they want to feel something. And food, done properly, still does that better than most.
The numbers that matter
If all this sounds a little romantic, the figures are anything but.
KAEN Restaurant WORKSHOP
International visitors spent an extra 822.85 million baht dining at MICHELIN-listed restaurants in 2025 alone, up a hefty 45% on the year before, according to a study commissioned by TAT.
Over eight years, that spending has generated more than 3.18 billion baht in added value, delivering a return that would make most investment managers envious, 14.7 times the original outlay.
Restaurants themselves are reaping the rewards. A single star can lift revenue by around a third. Jobs follow. Renovations follow. Standards rise. The ripple effect is real, and it’s spreading well beyond Bangkok’s fine-dining rooms.
Chefs, not slogans, do the heavy lifting
Of course, no amount of strategy works without substance. The seminar’s real credibility came not from slides or reports, but from the people behind the stoves.
Chef “Tan” Phakorn Kosiyapong of Gaa, holder of both a MICHELIN Star and Green Star, joined Chef “Ko” Paisan Cheewinsiriwat of Kaan, alongside food stylist “Golf” Ekarin Yusuksomboon from Kaan Krung. All operate within that delicate balance of tradition and innovation that defines modern Thai cuisine.
They didn’t need to say much. Their work already does.
Old strengths, sharpened for a new era
What Thailand is doing here isn’t revolutionary. If anything, it’s reassuringly traditional.
The country has always understood hospitality. It has always understood flavour. What’s changed is the precision with which it now packages those strengths for a global audience that is more selective and more experience-driven than ever before.
Call it a strategy if you like. Or just call it common sense, done exceptionally well.
Either way, Thailand has found a way to make tourism taste better, and that in this market is no small achievement.
by Supaporn Pholrach – (c) 2026.
Read Time: 5 minutes.
About the Author.
Supaporn Pholrach came up in advertising when deals were sealed with a handshake, and deadlines lived on scraps of paper, not dashboards. She learned early that people mattered more than process, and it stuck. Armed with solid training and a stubborn work ethic, she built a reputation for getting results without turning hard or hollow.
Fifteen years at Bangkok Shuho would test anyone’s stamina. Supaporn stayed the distance. These days, as Sales Manager at Global Travel Media, she helps tourism brands cut through the noise with common sense, good humour and genuine warmth.
She doesn’t chase quick wins. She earns trust, builds loyalty and keeps her word. In an industry that rarely slows down, Supaporn is someone you’re quietly glad to have on your side.
