TAT turns Thai dining into Jakarta travel-trade pitch as Indonesia market grows

A culinary networking event in South Jakarta targeted airlines, OTAs, travel agents, media and creators as Thailand works toward 890,000 Indonesian visitors in 2026. KEY TAKEAWAYS TAT staged The Wholesome Taste of Thai networking event in South Jakarta on 5 September 2026 to connect Thai gastronomy with Indonesian travel demand. The event brought together airlines, OTAs, travel agents, media and creators, using a curated menu to link regional Thai flavors with destination experiences. Thailand recorded 376,337 Indonesian visitors from January through July 2026, with TAT targeting 890,000 Indonesian arrivals for the full year. The Jakarta activation complements TAT's wider Indonesian strategy, which also includes partnerships with TransNusa Airlines and Traveloka to strengthen air access and digital promotion. Thailand is using one of its strongest travel motivators—food—to deepen its reach into the Indonesian market, bringing a trade-focused culinary event to Jakarta as part of a broader effort to convert interest in Thai cuisine into bookings and destination discovery. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) held Amazing Thailand: The Wholesome Taste of Thai Networking Event on 5 September at YOUNG Restaurant in Kebayoran, South Jakarta. Rather than staging a public food festival, TAT used the Jakarta stop as a focused business and media platform for airlines, online travel agencies, travel agents, journalists and key opinion leaders or influencers. The format reflects a wider shift in destination marketing toward experiences that can be translated directly into travel products. By putting regional dishes in front of people who sell, distribute and communicate travel, TAT is using gastronomy as both cultural storytelling and a commercial tool. Regional Thai flavors become the travel pitch The event centered on a curated set menu designed to connect individual dishes with Thailand's regions, ingredients and culinary traditions. Northern flavors included beef sai oua, served with crispy sticky rice and nam phrik num, while the menu also featured yum som-o, a pomelo salad with shrimp and scallops, and Southern-style khao yum with crispy shrimp, toasted coconut and fermented budu dressing. Other courses included tom saab nuea, a spicy beef soup made with A5 Wagyu, roasted rice and holy basil; pad ka prao talay with seafood; baked sea bass hor mok; massaman curry with grilled Wagyu short rib; and a rice pudding dessert paired with jasmine toasted-rice ice cream. The menu was prepared by YOUNG Restaurant and Chef Yohans, long-standing collaborators with TAT Jakarta. The restaurant had also participated in the online 'Kitchen Club by TGN – Songkhla Edition: The Bold Flavour' on 5 August, an initiative organized with the Thailand Gastronomy Network, TAT, Hatyai University and Indonesian food networks to promote Southern Thai culinary culture internationally. Nithee Seeprae, TAT Deputy Governor for Marketing Communications, said the Jakarta event was intended to turn Thailand's culinary identity into travel demand by connecting food with local ingredients, regional culture and wider visitor experiences. Indonesia is a priority ASEAN source market The timing is significant because Indonesia has become one of Thailand's most closely targeted short-haul markets. In a separate August 2026 market update, TAT reported 376,337 Indonesian arrivals between 1 January and 31 July, with an average stay of six nights. The tourism authority is targeting 890,000 Indonesian visitors for the full year. TAT identifies Thai cuisine, historical sites, community-based tourism, wellness and beaches among the leading interests of Indonesian visitors. Food therefore provides a natural entry point for encouraging repeat travelers to move beyond familiar destinations and for persuading first-time visitors to connect a meal or flavor profile with a specific place in Thailand. The gastronomy activation also sits alongside other recent efforts to grow the Indonesian market. TAT signed separate agreements with TransNusa Airlines and Traveloka in Jakarta in August, combining air connectivity, digital marketing, travel-product development and platform distribution. Those partnerships are supporting the Jakarta–Bangkok and Bali–Phuket routes as well as campaigns aimed at widening travel demand across Thailand. A different format within TAT's global food campaign The Jakarta event forms part of the Amazing Thailand Food Festival (World Tour), under which TAT has adapted The Wholesome Taste of Thai concept to different markets. Earlier showcases linked with Central Group took place in London, Berlin, Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur, while Fukuoka hosted a consumer-facing festival. Jakarta adds a trade, media and creator-led format to that mix, with the objective of generating partnerships, promotions, editorial coverage and social amplification rather than relying only on public footfall. That approach also fits TAT's broader 2026 tourism strategy. In its Thailand Tourism Update presented at TTM+ 2026, the authority identified gastronomy as one of the experiences supporting its value-led tourism direction, particularly for short-haul markets seeking food, entertainment and easily accessible breaks. For Indonesia, the Jakarta event turns that strategy into a highly practical proposition: taste the food, connect it with a place, and give the travel trade and digital storytellers the material to turn culinary curiosity into an actual trip.