ID :
144928
Tue, 10/05/2010 - 18:15
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http://m.oananews.org//node/144928
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TAT, Thai private sector restore confidence among Japanese tourists
Following Thailand's recent political unrest in May which dealt a severe blow to the country's economy and tourism, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and representatives of more than 10 Thai travel and tourism companies recently participated in Japan's tourism promotion fair to rebuild confidence in travelling to Thailand with an aim to attract at least one million Japanese tourists back to the Land of Smiles.
Japan is Thailand's main target in reattracting tourists, as usually over one million Japanese travellers visit the country annually, the figure counting as the second largest following the number of Malaysian travellers.
However, the Japanese tourists figure visiting Thailand in this year's second quarter has dropped around 14 per cent year-on-year due to Thailand's political unrest in April-May, prompting the government of Japan to issue a travel advisory warning its citizens to stay away from the kingdom, according to TAT deputy governor for International Marketing (Asia and South Pacific), Sansern Ngaorungsi.
As a result, TAT and the Thai private sector joined the Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) World Tourism Congress & Travel Fair 2010, held in Tokyo.
Thai private entrepreneurs, directly affected by the earlier political unrest and who participated in the fair, said that though they had to pay their own travel expenses, the investment was worthwhile as they had a chance to talk directly with their own customers and rebuild confidence among Japanese tourists and travel agents.
"It was necessary that we directly met with Japanese or Korean travel agents here because sometimes they don't trust brokers or other agencies when our products are presented to them," said a Thai golf course entrepreneur.
According to official statistics, around 640,000 travellers from Japan visited Thailand in the first eight months of this year. TAT's estimate of the Japanese market showed that the tourist numbers in the third quarter would continue to drop although the situation in Thailand has returned to normal.
"When the situation started to return to normal, we decided to focus on advertisement and cooperate more with TAT. We join more of road shows abroad and participate in TAT's fairs for consumers," said a Thai spa entrepreneur, who also joined the event in Japan.
Thailand is positive it would be able to attract around one million Japanese tourists to enter the country in this year's fourth quarter as targeted.
"I'm quite certain that we can reach 1 million Japanese tourists as targeted by the end of this year, and that we'll be able to maintain this market even though we had to face political problems earlier this year," said Mr Sansern.
To maintain the Japanese tourist figure, the cooperation includes a survey on goods and services on tourism in Thailand.
Mr Sansern said TAT has met with JATA officers to exchange ideas and promote the two countries' tourism. Thailand has also asked Japan to promote its tourism among Japanese travellers by expanding its cooperation with that country's travel agents and by organising campaigns and offering tour packages to Thailand.
Around 30 per cent of the one-million tourists are from southern Japan or the capital Tokyo, which is considered as the main marketing area.
Apart from Japan, TAT is preparing to expand its overseas markets to China and India, including Australia. Tourism road shows to London are being organised this month to attract 14 million tourists as targeted, which would bring in revenues to the country around Bt600 billion (US$20 billion). (MCOT online news)
Japan is Thailand's main target in reattracting tourists, as usually over one million Japanese travellers visit the country annually, the figure counting as the second largest following the number of Malaysian travellers.
However, the Japanese tourists figure visiting Thailand in this year's second quarter has dropped around 14 per cent year-on-year due to Thailand's political unrest in April-May, prompting the government of Japan to issue a travel advisory warning its citizens to stay away from the kingdom, according to TAT deputy governor for International Marketing (Asia and South Pacific), Sansern Ngaorungsi.
As a result, TAT and the Thai private sector joined the Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) World Tourism Congress & Travel Fair 2010, held in Tokyo.
Thai private entrepreneurs, directly affected by the earlier political unrest and who participated in the fair, said that though they had to pay their own travel expenses, the investment was worthwhile as they had a chance to talk directly with their own customers and rebuild confidence among Japanese tourists and travel agents.
"It was necessary that we directly met with Japanese or Korean travel agents here because sometimes they don't trust brokers or other agencies when our products are presented to them," said a Thai golf course entrepreneur.
According to official statistics, around 640,000 travellers from Japan visited Thailand in the first eight months of this year. TAT's estimate of the Japanese market showed that the tourist numbers in the third quarter would continue to drop although the situation in Thailand has returned to normal.
"When the situation started to return to normal, we decided to focus on advertisement and cooperate more with TAT. We join more of road shows abroad and participate in TAT's fairs for consumers," said a Thai spa entrepreneur, who also joined the event in Japan.
Thailand is positive it would be able to attract around one million Japanese tourists to enter the country in this year's fourth quarter as targeted.
"I'm quite certain that we can reach 1 million Japanese tourists as targeted by the end of this year, and that we'll be able to maintain this market even though we had to face political problems earlier this year," said Mr Sansern.
To maintain the Japanese tourist figure, the cooperation includes a survey on goods and services on tourism in Thailand.
Mr Sansern said TAT has met with JATA officers to exchange ideas and promote the two countries' tourism. Thailand has also asked Japan to promote its tourism among Japanese travellers by expanding its cooperation with that country's travel agents and by organising campaigns and offering tour packages to Thailand.
Around 30 per cent of the one-million tourists are from southern Japan or the capital Tokyo, which is considered as the main marketing area.
Apart from Japan, TAT is preparing to expand its overseas markets to China and India, including Australia. Tourism road shows to London are being organised this month to attract 14 million tourists as targeted, which would bring in revenues to the country around Bt600 billion (US$20 billion). (MCOT online news)
