The country will achieve this year's domestic tourism revenue target of 700 billion baht but miss the number of trips, says the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).
Phu Lom Lo or the Pink Valley in Loei's Dan Sai district is among the newly promoted destinations aimed at attracting Thai tourists.
Negative factors such as mounting household debt and the earlier political unrest have affected Thais' purchasing power, which will see domestic tourism missing the target of 136 million trips by at least 10%.
But domestic tourism revenue is expected to reach 720 billion baht due to more Thais flying on low-cost carriers (LCCs), giving them more money to spend, said Anupharp Thirarath, the TAT's deputy governor for domestic marketing.
The TAT found Thai travellers preferred to use LCCs due to attractive promotions and cheap prices. Time and money saved result in higher spending per head at tourism sites.
Airports of Thailand Plc data show 8.5 million domestic LCC passengers in the third quarter, up by 24% year-on-year.
The number of domestic LCC passengers also increased by 38% year-on-year.
"We've seen a positive trend in domestic tourism since mid-year," Mr Anupharp said.
"It should fully recover in the final quarter, particularly in the North and Northeast, with bookings at more than 80% for December."
For next year, the TAT predicts 148 million domestic trips generating 800 billion baht in revenue. It plans to team up with LCCs Thai AirAsia, Nok Air, Thai Lion Air and Thai Smile to boost marketing activities during next year's low season.
Mr Anupharp said this year's cooperation with the four budget airlines could see 80,000 air tickets sold for the high season, a sharp rise from the target of 30,000.
For next year, three major tourism promotions — "Dream Destinations 2", "12 Destinations … You Can't Say No" and a weekday tourism promotion aimed at local tourists — have already been launched.
Mr Anupharp said the TAT had received good cooperation on the three campaigns from many parties.
For example, the Chiang Rai Provincial Administrative Organisation has agreed to landscaping for a "City of Flowers".
It has imported more than 1,000 cherry blossom trees from Japan to fashion a sakura road.
The northern province is one of the year-round flower-blossom sites in "Dream Destinations 2".
The Thailand Tourism Festival will be held at various locations next Jan 14-18, with the highlight being Discovery Thainess 2015 in Bangkok's Lumpini Park.
A total of 4 million visitors are expected at all of the venues during the five-day event.
