The Tourism Authority of Thailand has unveiled a
series of strategies designed to maintain, enhance and promote
Thailand’s brand image, marketing profile and visitor arrivals.
TAT has set a 2013 target of 22.22 million
international visitor arrivals, generating estimated foreign
exchange revenues of 966 billion Baht (US$ 30.62 billion, based on
the exchange rate of 31.54 Baht to the dollar).
TAT Governor, Suraphon Svetasreni, said, “Tourism
is now recognised as Thailand’s most important service industry.
Its contribution to job creation, income distribution and foreign
exchange earnings is well above par. While the industry has been
doing well so far, it cannot rest on its laurels in an unstable
and unpredictable world.”
One of the most important
opportunities for tourism and economic growth is the emergence of the ASEAN Economic Community
(AEC) with
prospects of free movement of products and people by 2015. These
opportunities increase manifold when the nearly 600 million strong population of the 10 ASEAN countries is expanded to include ASEAN
+3 (China, Japan and South Korea) and beyond by another three
countries to include ASEAN +6 (Russia, India and Australia). To capitalize on this, the TAT has crafted the “Thailand and
Beyond Strategy” to be ready for AEC in 2015.
Some of the highlights of the 2013 Action Plan:
- The core theme of the 2013 TAT Action Plan is
“Higher
Revenue through Thainess”. The TAT will attract tourists with the
“Charm of Thainess” which includes Thai Experience, Thai Way of
Life, and Thai Culture.
- The marketing messages will
emphasize creative tourism, where tourists can participate in and
learn about unique Thai experiences, such as Thai boxing, Thai
massage, Thai cooking, and Thai classical dancing.
- One campaign, known as “Discover The Other
You” will be especially important in order to promote experiential
travel - which taps into a global desire among visitors to learn
something new and acquire a new experience.
- Some key
aspects of Thai lifestyles include basic things such as rice
farming, massage and meditation techniques, will also be used. For
the first time, images for visitors participating in a rice harvest
and ploughing the fields behind a water buffalo will be used in
Thai marketing campaigns.
- TAT will put more effort to
increase first-time visitors and high spenders (luxury markets).
Four niche products used to attract high-spenders will be Golf,
Health & Wellness, Wedding & Honeymoon, and Green Tourism.
- TAT will try to increase charter and low-cost carrier
flights to destinations where there is no direct access. LCC’s
will also be used to broaden the base for mainstream tourists.
- A Partner on Demand strategy will be used to increase the
number of strategic alliances and enhance the add-on impact of
marketing efforts
- Trade shows and road shows will be
extensively used in both main markets and new potential markets.
- All the major global media will be used, especially
sports and special-interest TV channels. The same strategy will be used in the print media, especially to reach business executives.
- The new digital media will be a special focus of
attention. Partnerships will also be forged with hotel partners to
produce and show special interest videos such as those
highlighting weddings and honeymoons.
- Celebrity
marketing will require linking up with famous people who can act
as brand ambassadors.
- The TAT will also put considerable
emphasis on a tourism intelligence unit and a crisis management centre. These will be designed to sharpen research skills in order
to identify emerging trends and opportunities, and also react
efficiently and promptly to the increasing number of global
crises.
The primary determinant of how
Thailand’s travel and tourism industry performs in future however will
be economic, social and political stability.
See also:
Thailand Visitor Arrivals in H1 2013
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