by Reinhard Hohler, Chiang Mai

According to the Bangkok Post breaking news, Thai Airways International (THAI) will join other tourism bodies in Thailand to stage a grand-scale “familiarisation” trip to persuade about 1,000 international travel and media figures that the kingdom’s severe political crisis has passed. The flag carrier will hand out free tickets to fly the invited visitors to Thailand in July, while others including the Tourism Authority of Thailand, hospitality and retail industries, plan campaigns to show the world that Thailand is back on track.

The “fam trip” as such is expected to be the biggest ever staged, reflecting the severe damage the political violence has caused the country’s bad image for tourism. It would outstrip a similar campaign staged in October 2008 – before the yellow-shirt protesters’ seizure of Bangkok’s airports – to counter the twin setbacks of an oil-price spike and political turmoil in Thailand that had caused a sharp downturn in arrivals. Back in 2008, the campaign had offered 2008 free trips, all paid for by THAI, for tourism decision-makers.