The Deputy Governor for Marketing Communications of the Thailand Tourism Authority (TAT), Mrs. Juthaporn Rerngronasa, updated the problems in her country during a press conference at the ATF in Hanoi, Vietnam:
In total, the ASEAN countries contribute to about one-fourth of our total visitor arrivals. International visitor arrivals to Thailand in January – July 2008 totalled 9.14 million of whom 2.3 million visitors were from ASEAN countries, or a market share of about 25 percent. Malaysia topped the list with one million arrivals, followed by Singapore with 370,000 and Lao PDR. with 350,000.
I know most of you would like to get an update of what happened in Thailand during the airport closure and how we have recovered from this unprecedented crisis. Today, we can confidently say that Amazing Thailand is making an Amazing Recovery and is back in business.
The closure of Thailand’s main gateway airport at Suvarnabhumi between 25 November to 3 December was a completely unforeseen and unpredictable event caused by a domestic political dispute. The entire Thai tourism industry was mobilised to help the tourists, which became a top priority. The Ministry of Tourism and Sports and Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), together with the entire private sector provided accommodation, transportation, and meals.
Some emergency flights were operated from other airports, and city terminals were established for tourists to undergo early check-in procedures. Once the all-clear was declared, the entire aviation industry moved expeditiously and urgently to get the airport open again and help visitors return home to their loved ones.
After the reopening of the airports, the recovery in visitor arrivals was almost instantaneous. This is clear proof of the high levels of confidence that visitors have in the Kingdom of Thailand, the Thai people and the Thai tourism industry.
Now a new Thai government has been formed. Furthermore, the new Minister of Tourism and Sports, His Excellency Mr. Chumpol Silpa-archa, has pledged immediately to expedite the recovery of tourism. He will work with other ministers to ensure the necessary funding and infrastructure support.
Recovery plan
The industry’s three-point recovery plan for 2009 includes:
1) Emergency measures to restore visitor confidence,
2) Policy measures to promote more domestic travel and international visitor arrivals, and
3) Tactical marketing measures which include special campaigns, especially via online marketing.
Our campaigns will focus on major markets where we will work with industry partners to launch special packages, advertise in local media, promote the Amazing Value Card and Coupon, organize media trips to Thailand, encourage overseas Thai residents to visit Thailand, and bring back seminars and exhibitions.
One of the key areas is the recovery of the domestic market. In times of crisis, we have always found that the Thai people turnout big time to help their fellow citizens. We are boosting our public relations, marketing and promotional activities in the domestic market in order to help us tide over the projected shortfall in international visitors.
We are also working closely with the private sector to launch special packages in both the international and domestic markets, for example:
1. One Price All Destinations package; Eg. 40 Boutique hotels have offered stays for 2,000 Baht net from January – March, 2009. Moreover, the Banyan Tree in Bangkok and Phuket provides special offer of the “Thailand Smiles Again Package”: Buy 1 Get 1 Free for 1,000 rooms or during 8-31 January, 2009.
2. Thailand Super Deal portal website: Here you can find Thailand’s best deal packages from hotels, tour operators, airlines, shopping centres, etc. Please check out: www.tourismthailand.org and www.thailandsuperdeal.com.
We are also organizing roadshows abroad and bringing media/ travel agents on fam trips, especially from major markets, such as China, Japan, and the Middle East.
Revised arrival projections
We are expecting that final figures for 2008 will show a total of 14.3 million arrivals, which will be about the same as 2007. Although arrivals are projected to improve in the first quarter of 2009, they will definitely be lower than arrivals in the first quarter of 2008. However, we project an improvement in the second quarter of 2009. We target the international visitor arrivals in 2009 are not less than 14 million, again depending on extra budget from the government, as well as local, regional, and global situation.
There are certain underlying strengths in the Thai tourism industry that supports our resilience. For example, Thailand remains the world’s best value-for-money brand, as announced on 11 November, 2008, by the 2008 Country Brand Index (CBI), the third consecutive year it has won this accolade.
The Brand Index hailed the Kingdom thus: “Famous for its authentic culture, spectacular beaches and noteworthy night life, Thailand is also one of the most affordable destinations in the world.” In addition, Bangkok has been voted by the Travel and Leisure Magazine and the CondeNast Traveler, US to be the “Best International Business City 2008”. From the Scandinavian market, Thailand has won the Grand Travel Award Norway 2009 that was announced on 6 January, 2009. We have also won numerous other awards.
New hotels opening in 2008 and 2009
One of the major indicators of the continued confidence of investors in Thailand is the huge increase in new and refurbished hotels, as well as hotel expansion in both 2008 and 2009. Our records show that a total of 50 new hotels opened nationwide in 2008.
46 new hotels are set to open this year (2009). All these hotels include both international and local hotel chains. They indicate an inflow of investment from all over the world, including the Asia Pacific and the Middle East.
Thailand to be a hub of charter flights
We are also fortunate to have a good mix of airline traffic. Although scheduled flights are of course the dominant source of traffic, we are also seeing strong growth in low-cost airlines and charter traffic.
According to the Airports of Thailand, total Low Cost Carrier (LCC) passenger traffic at all the international airports in Thailand has risen from 7.1 million in the fiscal year of 2005 to 12.8 million in the fiscal year of 2008, a far higher growth rate than passenger movements on the regular scheduled airlines.
Joachim Fischer, currently in Hanoi, Vietnam
