Thailand tourism woos travel agents in India with 3-city road show
Wednesday, 12 February 2014 00:00
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The Tourism Authority of Thailand’s (TAT) Mumbai office has kicked off its annual road show in India.
It began in Bangalore on Monday and will move on to Chennai today and thereafter to Ahmedabad on 14 February.
The road show will assemble more than 30 key travel partners from Thailand under one roof in each of these important gateway cities.
Thailand is promoting more than Bangkok to the Indian travel market.
India remains among Thailand’s top inbound markets, having crossed a million arrivals during 2012. Meanwhile, even as sceptics anticipated sliding outbound numbers in 2013 due to the unstable dollar and falling rupee, numbers to Thailand remained strong at 1,049, 856 arrivals which corresponds to nearly 4% growth over 2012.
“We have brought together a sizeable contingent of the most relevant hotels, DMCs and attractions to arm the travel agent for the year ahead,” said TAT Mumbai Office director
Sethaphan Buddhani. The three-city road show is the latest among a host of B2B initiatives in Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Chennai. For instance, given the Gujarat market’s focus on Indian food while on holiday, TAT has worked to ensure that travel agents are equipped with names and locations of Indian restaurants across the Kingdom. Meanwhile, consumer-connect activities promoting niches such as golf and biking trips in Thailand have been a persistent practice for Chennai and Bangalore markets. TAT has escorted groups of golfers and bikers to the destination. Additionally, across all three markets, TAT has been hosting wedding planners on familiarisation trips to Thailand.
TAT is also hosting a Thai Food Festival at The Four Seasons, Mumbai from 8-15 April 2014.
