Lankan visitors to Thailand increase

In 2011, Sri Lanka visitor arrivals totalled 53,626, up 7.82% over 2010. During January-April 2012,Thailand welcomed 22,132 Sri Lankan visitors, up by 17.24% over the same period of 2011, said Phanom Kaributra, Executive Director, ASEAN South Asia and South Pacific Region Department of Tourism Authority of Thailand in an exclusive interview with Daily News Business yesterday in Bangkok.

"There is tremendous potential for tourism development between the two country's because the similarity of the cultural aspects and South Asia, was a major part of their tourism focus for 2012.

"It has the best possible of all worlds - demographics, proximity and spending power. In addition to India, we also see strong potential to boost arrivals from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka," he said.

When inquired about the recent devastating floods that affected the Thai tourism industry adversely and their successful recovery journey he said, "We launched 'Beautiful Thailand', a short tactical campaign to restore and recover the destinations affected by the floods crisis during October - November 2011.

It was organised by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to unite the entire travel industry, restore the tourist's confidence from overseas and domestic markets.

This campaign ran until March 2012. The major activities included:

Clean-Up Flood Areas (Corporate Social Responsibility activities): Hundreds of tourism industry executives, personnel, media and tourists joining hands for more clean-up activities, garbage-collection, landscaping, planting of trees, painting and repairing the buildings. The clean-up activities were mainly taken place in Ayutthaya (the former historic capital and a UNESCO World Heritage Site that was heavily damaged by the floods but is now being rapidly cleaned up and rehabilitated). Mega information trip: Over 300 the media and travel agents worldwide were invited to come and see the all-clear situation for themselves and send the message back to their customers, clients, readers, viewers and followers that Thailand is back to normal and ready to receive visitors. TAT overseas offices worked directly with tour operators and industry partners in their local markets to develop campaigns and promotions, including joining international travel trade events and road shows. All TAT overseas offices were told to utilise various online channels and social media to spread the message.

Kaributra said, "Our projection for 2012 is for 20.586 million international tourist arrivals, generating approximate revenue of 766 billion Baht. We believe that in spite of all the external and internal challenges, Thailand's travel and tourism remains capable of dealing with crises and that our long-standing good image and numerous other positive factors continue to prevail over temporary negative impacts. When inquired about the budget for tourism 2013 he said, "Normally we allocate approximately 4 billion baht for the budget. 10 -15 percent will be for administrative budget. The rest of the budget will be divided into international marketing activities, domestic marketing activities and event promotion activities

When inquired TAT's strategy which they intend to follow during the event and what is the focus and theme, he said The theme of TTM's this year is "Customize Your Experience in Thailand". This is in line with the fact that Thailand offers a variety of products and services that can cater to all categories of target markets, from age to income levels. We have also amassed extensive experience in creatively packaging these products and services and pitching them to the right target market at the right time at the right price.

This year, TAT is refocusing its strategies to attract the huge number of niche-market visitors seeking holidays and experiences more in tune with their personal preferences and lifestyles. Four of the key niche-markets showing extensive potential are golf, wedding & honeymoon, ecotourism and health and wellness. Here are some details:

Last April, TAT's 7 Greens Concept and another two projects (The Ban Na Ton Chang Community) and (Organic Agriculture Project at Sukhothai Airport) won PATA Gold award 2012. These awards clearly show that our environmental preservation strategy is working. It is also a great incentive for all of us in the Thai tourism industry to ensure that we balance economic and ecological progress in our future development plans.

In addition, the TAT is continuing to support intra-regional travel at TTM+ 2012 with the participation of several NTOs from the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) including Bhutan, China's Yunnan and Guangxi provinces, Cambodia, Laos PDR, Myanmar, and Vietnam. Thailand is ideally located to serve as the travel hub for the GMS. The entire program is designed to offer a great opportunity for the trade delegates and media to enjoy a full range of tours that will showcase the region's natural beauty and rich cultural heritage.He said The theme of TTM's this year is "Customise Your Experience in Thailand". This is in line with the fact that Thailand offers a variety of products and services that can cater to all categories of target markets, from age to income levels. We have also amassed extensive experience in creatively packaging these products and services and pitching them to the right target market at the right time at the right price.

Kaributra said 380 sellers include 261 hotels, 30 tour operators and travel agents, 18 NTOs/GMS, 19 Health and Wellness, 11 Entertainment, 11 Wedding and Honeymoon specialists, 8 Associations, 7 Golf, 5 Ecotourism, and 6 Other Travel Services had enrolled in this year's TTM+ which is a tremendous success. Similarly, TTM 2012 has attracted over 335 buyers from 52 countries. This includes 110 buyers from European countries, 8 buyers from Middle East, 44 buyers from the US and Canada, 33 buyers from Australia and New Zealand, 95 buyers from Asia and 14 buyers from South Africa. New buyers this year are from Bangladesh and Chile. We have also re-invited buyers from emerging new markets such Estonia, Serbia, Kazakhstan and Lithuania in order to maintain the momentum of last year. "We have new buyers from Bangladesh and Chile. We have also re-invited buyers from emerging new markets such Estonia, Serbia, Kazakhstan and Lithuania in order to maintain the momentum of last year," he said.

When inquired What are the activities organised during the Mart to promote green tourism and other aspects of tourism in Thailand?he said "Our 'green tourism' activities are an ongoing part of our policy focus, not just for the TTM+. TAT has continuously promoted sustainable tourism through the concept of the Seven Greens, which encourages Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) among operators. We collaborate with various partners to identify interesting options for eco-friendly travel; such as, the Green Hotels, the Green Islands of Ko Chang, and newer environmentally-friendly tourism products. We are making conservation and preservation issues very much part of our promotions, such as by highlighting ecotourism products, boutique hotels, health and wellness facilities and the Royal Projects. The Thai tourism sector is also becoming increasingly conscious of environmental responsibility. At present, there are more than 180 hotels recognized by the Green Leaf Certification Programme, and a large variety of eco-friendly tourism products located throughout the Kingdom.

At ITB Berlin, TAT also organised the Green Tourism Awards ceremony for German travel agents and hotels which promote sustainable tourism to Thailand.

New initiatives like the Seven Greens project and Tourism Awards are being specifically designed to ensure that the local management of the industry remains as powerful and effective as global marketing efforts.

TAT's Seven Greens programme provides a conceptual framework and establishes practical guidelines for carefully balancing tourism promotion and a healthy, sustainable environment. It facilitates the formation of strategic partnerships and provides a cooperative framework for the implementation of green initiatives in the following seven areas.

Last April, at the PATA annual conference in Kuala Lumpur, Thailand won three PATA Awards 2012 all in environment and heritage categories, including TAT's Seven Greens Concept. The judging committee hailed it as "a comprehensive environmental concept for sustainable, green tourism in Thailand."

These awards clearly show that our environmental preservation strategy is working. It is also a great incentive to all of us in the Thai tourism industry to ensure that we balance economic and ecological progress in our future development plans.

When inquired how successful has the concept of stopover in Bangkok has been he said, "extremely successful. The concept of stopovers emanated from the policy to promote Bangkok as a hub for airline transfer traffic between Europe and Australia. Millions of people stopover at Bangkok airport every year to catch connecting onward flights. We do not have exact research numbers, but we are quite sure that thousands of them do eventually come back to have a holiday in Thailand.

Commenting on plans to host the World Expo 2020 is Thailand, he said, "Initially, this event will be the responsibility of the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB). Thailand has just won the bidding for the Expo and the country will have many things to prepare for that. TAT, as the organisation to promote tourism, will be ready to use all our efforts to make the event be more of a success and run smoothly.

Commenting on the competition from neighbouring countries in tourism he said, 'Although our neighbouring countries in the Mekong region as well as our ASEAN colleagues are often seen as "competitors," we like to believe that we complement each other. We are shifting away from seeing other destinations as competitors, and trying to compete more with ourselves. There is no use in pursuing this policy of competing with others. The travel and tourism industry is growing in leaps and bounds all over the world. There is plenty of business for everyone. Like in any other business, the most important thing is to ensure a high quality product. All destinations are like apples and oranges, with unique selling propositions. These days, tourists all like to see new places and we believe that Thailand and the GMS countries all have a lot to offer.

With improved infrastructure and communication linkages, strong marketing campaigns, better visa facilitation and the emergence of countries like Myanmar, we are confident that the entire region will benefit. It's a win-win situation. Competition is not really necessary.

Kaributra added "We are projecting visitor arrivals of 7% growth in 2012 and 766 billion baht (USD 24.05 billion) in tourism revenue.

In 2011, we received a total of 4.94 million arrivals from Europe, up 11.40% over 2010. The strongest growing source markets were Russia (+57.36%), Spain (+42.30%), East Europe (+11.15%) and France (+10.30%). Russia has now become one of five countries from which we get more than one million arrivals a year, with 1.01 million arrivals last year.

In January - April 2012, Thailand welcomed 2.39 million arrivals from Europe, up 9.18% over the same period of 2011. The top five source markets were Russia (514,475), United Kingdom (312,530), Germany (285,701), France (241,988) and Sweden (240,446).

This year, we have projected 5.9 million arrivals from Europe, up 9% over 2011 and generating over 300 billion baht (Euro 7.42 billion) and average expenditure per trip over 50,000 baht (Euro 1,238). Travel to Thailand from ASEAN countries is growing at record levels, thanks to visa-free policies, strong marketing campaigns and increased low-cost airline linkages between the various new and emerging destinations.

The increase was facilitated largely by the emergence of a number of low-cost carriers, making air travel more affordable and convenient than ever. Improved quality of transportation infrastructure has also significantly boosted overland crossings between Thailand and its neighbours especially Malaysia, Laos and Cambodia.In January - April 2012, Thailand welcomed 1.8 million ASEAN visitors, up by 3.25% over the same period of 2011.Malaysia topped the list with 739,567 arrivals, followed by Laos 311,666 and Singapore 219,269.

The budget of this year's TTM+ amounted to US $ one million.