Source: Bangkok Post

The travel industry is pinning its hopes on healthy customer spending at the Thai International Travel Fair 2010, which it says will reflect demand and confidence in Thai tourism in 2010.

Charoen Wangananonth, the president of the Thai Travel Agents Association (TTAA), said that if spending at this year’s fair was higher than last year, the tourism outlook would be brighter.

The fair will be staged by the TTAA, the Association of Domestic Travel, Krung Thai Card (KTC), and Thai Amadeus from Feb 25-28 with 1,127 local and foreign agencies occupying 20,000 square metres at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center. Prizes worth 10 million baht will be offered to spur sales.

“We think the tourism industry should recover this year because of the global economic rebound and possible local political improvement, even if the day of judgement for former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is approaching. We believe the time for violent incidents in Thai politics has passed and everybody wants peace,” Mr Charoen said.

The TTAA projects bookings during the four-day event will be higher than last year. Total visitors should increase to 800,000, from 500,000 last year, and spending will top 900 million baht compared to 600 million last year.

Staporn Sirisinha, the KTC senior executive vice-president for leisure marketing, said the company expected KTC card members would spend 280-300 million baht throughout the four days of the event, up from 220 million last year.

Mr Charoen said the private sector believed local tourism would gradually recover this year.

“We will meet with the minister every month to review and brainstorm ways to enhance the country’s tourism industry. This year, we want to focus promotion in China, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan,” said Mr Charoen.

He said tourists from China and Japan are returning, and bookings for the coming Chinese New Year were 50% higher than last year.

“Reservations at golf courses by Taiwanese, Koreans and Japanese have significantly increased since the start of this year,” he said, adding that at least 1 million Chinese tourists were expected to visit Thailand in 2010.

Source: Bangkok Post

The Tourism Authority of Thailand expects at least 100,000 Chinese tourists to spend the coming Chinese New Year in Thailand, up from 60,000 last year, with the easing of H1N1 flu fears and a perception in China of a calmer political situation in Thailand.

For two years Thai tourism has suffered from concern over the flu outbreak and the country’s political turmoil, especially in sensitive countries such as China, said Sansern Ngaorungsi, the executive director of the TAT’s East Asia Region.

In the coming Chinese New Year, which falls on St Valentine’s Day, the number of Chinese tourist arrivals is forecast to increase by 67% from a year earlier, he said.

But Chinese tourists are changing their behaviour by increasingly travelling on their own and using the internet to pick destinations, instead of relying on tour agents.

China has the world’s second-highest internet penetration after the United States and TAT must increase online marketing campaigns in China, he said.

The TAT recently teamed up with easynet.com, a popular tourism website, to run marketing campaigns in China, he said. It will also promote Thailand through local media in China in the first five months of this year. It expects to attract 1,000 couples from Beijing to join mass wedding ceremonies in Thailand.

Mr Sansern is seeking a budget of 60 million baht to promote Thailand in the Chinese market.

For the Chinese New Year festival, the TAT will spend about 20 million baht on promotions in major cities including Hat Yai, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, Chon Buri, Nakhon Ratchasima and Nakhon Sawan. Grand celebrations will be held in Yaowarat, commonly known as Bangkok’s Chinatown.

Vichit Prakobgosol, the president of the Thai-Chinese Tourism Alliance Association, said Chinese tourists were returning after the association, TAT and the Ministry of Tourism and Sports seriously promoted Thailand and restored confidence throughout 2009.

At least 1.2 million Chinese tourists are expected to visit Thailand in 2010, up from fewer than 1 million last year.

Most Chinese tourists come from the south, followed by central and northern China.

Source: Bangkok Post

Asean is attempting to redefine the collaborative marketing of the region as a tourism destination with support from the United States.

A new strategy was developed after previous attempts to promote Asean as a holiday destination had poor results, said R.J. Gurley, the director of Asean Competitiveness Enhancement (ACE).

“Based on input from national tourism organisations, everyone was almost unanimous in saying that where we really need help is on branding and marketing,” he said.

ACE was set up by Nathan Associates, a consulting firm hired by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to help the regional bloc achieve its goal of establishing the Asean Economic Community by 2015.

The ACE programme identified tourism as the second core sector for development after textiles and clothing.

The new marketing strategy focuses on attracting tourists from outside Asean to travel to the region and to visit more than one country, said Mr Gurley.

“We wanted them to stay longer and we wanted them to spend more money,” he said.

A “Visit Asean” campaign has been running for eight years with little success, he noted.

“The first thing that I did was to look at what the competition is doing. There are a number of successful regional destination marketing campaigns. There is a ‘Visit the Caribbean’, for example, where something like 22 independent island nations have joined together in marketing the Caribbean as a region.”

The South Pacific and Europe offer other examples, he said. “And in our research we felt that Europe was probably the best model for a regional campaign for Southeast Asia,” said Mr Gurley.

The European Travel Commission, founded in 1948, comprises 32 countries making it broader than the 27-member European Union. Two years ago it decided to transfer all of its marketing resources to online marketing.

“It is the most cost-effective marketing method. TV, radio and such like are just too expensive for the very limited budget that we have. With today’s internet marketing capabilities, you can do very targeted marketing and it is the most effective dollar for dollar way that you can market,” said Mr Gurley.

“Their website, visiteurope.com, shows us the difference between their model and Asean’s model. They are saying ‘Visit Europe’. They are not saying ‘Visit the European Union’.”

In 2007, the University of Queensland assessed the Visit Asean campaign and found it was largely unsuccessful because Asean is not seen as a destination.

“In fact, in the US most people have never heard of Asean. The same thing in Europe. When I tell people I’m working with Asean, they will usually say. ‘Do you mean Asia?’ As a result, if you’re a tourist in Europe and you’re thinking about coming to the region, you don’t Google ‘Asean travel’,” he said.

According to the report, the Visit Asean campaign was launched without conducting adequate market research, there was no funding for the campaign and there was no organisation to manage it.

In January 2009, the ACE project signed with the Asean Travel Association (Aseanta), to co-operatively develop a new research-based marketing strategy.

“We think it is important to brand Asean, but we should be branding Asean for what it is, which is a political, economic and social community, and have [Aseanta] be the sponsor of a Southeast Asia marketing campaign.”

The new website, southeastasia.org, will be formally launched at the Asean Tourism Forum, which runs from Jan 21-28 in Brunei. Its tagline – “Southeast Asia: Feel the Warmth” – and logo will be based on the theme of cultural diversity

and warm hospitality.

The Singapore-based firm Wego will be the website’s engine for booking flights to multi-destination packages.

While research shows that people prefer visiting faraway places, the marketing programme will initially focus on the intermediate- and long-haul market as the global recession has curbed consumer travel spending, said Mr Gurley.

ACE will be looking at Europe and Australia, and is currently assessing the Indian market. Young travellers who visit more than one country will also be targeted, along with baby boomers and retirees who have time to travel.

The ACE project is fully funded by USAID with a total budget of US$7.9 million over five years, split between textiles and apparel and tourism. ACE is planning to put $500,000 into online marketing in the first year, said Mr Gurley.

With further support from regional governments, he is confident of success.

“I have every confidence that we will have greater success than the previous campaign because we are addressing the problems identified with that campaign,” he said.