The Awards offer a revealing insight into what German travellers really think. The promotion of Thai cuisine, one of the TAT's major niche-market targets, has been prioritised because it builds bridges between travel and tourism, the country's largest service industry, with agriculture, the largest overall industry.
Thai food is one of the most popular cuisines worldwide.
Many are set up by Thai entrepreneurs, Thai wives of expatriates, former students and other Thai expatriates living abroad. The German awards continue a stream of global travel and tourism awards that Thailand has been receiving recently. A recent survey by the US Travel and Leisure magazine saw Bangkok, the Thai capital, being voted number 7 in the World's Top 10 Best Cities 1999 and Phuket ranked number 7 in the World's Top 10 Best Islands 1999. Major five-star hotels in Bangkok have also been lauded best hotels in Asia while the Oriental has been listed as the best hotel in the world. Germany is Thailand's 9th largest market in terms of visitor arrivals by country of residence.