Thailand’s Tourism unveils action plan for 2013; targets 22.2 m tourists

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 capitalise 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 emphasise 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 and Wellness, Wedding and 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.