TAT OUTLINES TOURISM ACTION PLANS FOR 2002

Thailand's tourism marketing and development campaigns and strategies are to undergo a major overhaul in the Tourism Action Plan approved for the year 2002.

In an effort to make Thailand a truly quality destination in the face of growing global competition, the Tourism Authority of Thailand has radically restructured its plans and strategies in order to focus on sustainable development at home while pursuing new markets and customer market segments abroad.

These plans were worked out at a week-long marketing and development meeting attended by all TAT officials world-wide.

At a press conference on June 11 at the Sofitel Central Plaza Hotel, Minister to Prime Minister’s Office and TAT Chairman H.E. Mr. Somsak Thepsutin, explained details of the Tourism Action Plan 2002 to TAT officials, representatives of government agencies and the travel and tourism media.

TAT Chairman Somsak commented, “The tourism industry has been a major generator of jobs and foreign exchange and an important force in helping boost the country’s economy. The industry now needs to restructure to compete effectively in the face of intense global competition for market share.”

The year 2002 will see TAT and tourism-related public and private agencies work closely together to initiate a number of development and promotion projects to promote Thailand as a quality destination.

The goal is to encourage visitors to spend more so that tourism revenue earnings may continue to play an important role in preserving the health of the Thai economy.

The TAT plans to initiate more proactive marketing promotions to attract more visitors from both primary and supplementary markets. The country’s unique tourism-related resources will be highlighted, such as the many UNESCO- designated World Heritage sites, excellent MICE venues and facilities, fabulous shopping opportunities, etc.

Within the country, a new tourism rating system will be implemented to ensure the quality of products and services; domestic transportation network will be further developed and improved with better English-language tourism signage; and Thai people will be encouraged through various campaigns to be aware of the importance of being good hosts to visitors.

Major new marketing strategies will include forging alliances with new marketing partners and more distribution channels, developing tourism e-commerce websites and designing new brand names for supplementary destinations.

Also in 2002, a number of new tourism niche products will be developed and promoted such as agro-tourism, health and spa, auto-adventure, soft adventure & ecotourism, MICE, golf, diving, medical check-ups as well as Thai food and cooking schools.

TAT has divided all tourism destinations into three major categories, namely, supplementary clusters, major tourists cities and potential and border cities. All these will be gradually developed in a more sustainable manner according to their readiness and ability to receive visitors in the coming years.

All these destinations will be helped to upgrade their infrastructure services for visitors and respond to any problems that may occur related to safety and security.

On the organisational front, the TAT’s administrative and management structure will be improved to increase working efficiency. Three major improvements will include:

1) Opening of three more overseas offices in Beijing, New Delhi and Stockholm,

2) Establishment of two more independent units namely the National Tourism Development and Promotion Committee and a Convention & Exhibition Bureau, and

3) The transfer of responsibilities related to development and supervision to other agencies.

TAT will also promote stronger co-operation among tourism-related public and private agencies and participation of local agencies in the management of their own natural and cultural resources.

In addition, the TAT will work with educational institutions nation-wide to establish a tourism development and promotion network, improve the quality of tourism-related studies and boost tourism research.

With a total budget of about 3,075 million baht for October 2001-September 2002, the TAT is projecting about 11.13 million international visitors for Thailand in 2002, up 8.06% over an estimated 10.30 million in 2001.

This will generate about 370.4 billion baht in foreign exchange revenue for the Thai economy. On the domestic front, Thais and foreign expatriates will make about 58.20 million trips generating about 291 billion baht tourism revenue.