Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul (Minister of Tourism & Sports Thailand): Thailand offers “Affordable Luxury Plus Value of Experience”

We had the opportunity to meet with the Minister of Tourism & Sports of Thailand Mrs Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul during the World Travel Market 2015 in London and discuss with her the tourism strategy of MOTS for the European markets.
 

TravelDailyNews: What new travel products are you presenting in the WTM 2015 to the European tour operators, and what new campaigns are you launching for the consumers?
 

Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul: The ‘12 Hidden Gems Plus’, together with ‘The 12 Hidden Gems’, which are the twin secondary destinations, has been introduced as new products on the WTM 2015 stage this year in order to offer new travelling experiences with a more tranquil atmosphere to attract repeat visitors. Along with these destinations, we have been promoting various potential niche markets; such as, weddings and honeymoons, health and wellness, and green tourism to capture a specific preference especially of the high spenders.
 

TAT is using the WTM in London as a platform to launch the new logo of the ‘Amazing Thailand’ campaign. This logo incorporates the attraction and appeal of that most well-known characteristic of Thailand – The Smile. Thailand is also known as the Land of Smiles, and the new logo builds on that in order to strengthen the bonds of friendship, fun and happiness.
 

TDN: The decline of the Russian market was a big hit for Thailand’s incoming tourism. Which European markets are you targeting for 2016 to increase Europe’s market share in the tourism arrivals of Thailand?
 

Minister: Specifically, our strategy in European markets will see a revamping of Thailand’s brand to “Affordable Luxury Plus Value of Experience”. TAT will target more first-time visitors in secondary cities of major countries in Europe as well as emerging markets; such as, Eastern Europe. In addition, TAT will continue to target repeat visitors by offering experiential products.
 

The Eastern European countries have been relatively untapped but show great promise. By February 2016, TAT plans to open a new office in Prague, Czech Republic to step up our presence in these countries.
 

TDN: How are you planning to attract more European travellers to Thailand?
 

Minister: TAT has been putting greater efforts in drawing high-end tourist segments including golf, health and wellness, wedding and honeymoon, and ecotourism from the European source market, particularly over the last few years. The numbers of tourists from each of these segments may vary depending on the market interests. Europe is the market where Thailand sees a high rate of revisits. Based on the 2014 data of international tourist arrivals to Thailand, by frequency of visit, the rate of revisits from the European market was as high as 62.44 per cent. To this extent, greater focus will be on attracting first-time visitors from new source markets and secondary cities in the main source markets with the ultimate goal of building on revisits in the long term.
 

TDN: What kind of incentives do you offer to European air carriers, tour operators and MICE organizers to support their efforts to open new destinations and segments and sell Thailand as a tourism and MICE destination?
 

Minister: TAT London Office has planned to do the partner-on-demand with many tour operators and travel agents. However, we are open to all business partnership proposals which promote a win-win result.
 

TDN: What is the perception of the European travellers for Thailand and how are you planning to improve the positive image of the country regarding issues like safety & security, waste management, sustainability, children exploitation and sex tourism?
 

Minister: As people know that Thailand is considered as one of the developing countries, travellers may be afraid to face the undeveloped infrastructure and other inconveniences during their stay in Thailand. I would like to reaffirm that Thailand has well-equipped transportation with six international airports and an extensive rail network across the country as well as Skytrain and subway including airport links to facilitate tourists in Bangkok. 
 

The Royal Thai government has enforced a series of measures and developments in order to help improve the experience of travellers and tourists visiting the kingdom; such as, clamping down on the illegal taxi operations at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport and Phuket International Airport, and clearing out of beach encroachment at Phuket’s beaches, which have been returned to their natural pristine states. Also, Pattaya and Hua Hin have been improved to allow greater tourist access.
 

Security measures have been improved, especially for tourists by planning to implement more surveillance cameras and lighting tourist destinations across Thailand. More Tourist Police will facilitate and ensure safety for tourists. Zoning laws will be upgraded to enhance sustainability at various tourist destinations.
 

Waste management – Department of Tourism assigned the Thai Hotels Association (THAI) to urge the cooperation from their members on reducing the consumption of water during the drought crisis. The guideline measure is boost awareness as well as collaboration from hotel staffs and their guests to take part in the water-saving programme.
 

In order to create the awareness towards sustainability –  we have been concerning and taking action on this matter for long. TAT has organised the Thailand Tourism Awards in order to encourage Thailand tourism industry to develop and maintain their quality standard to better serve the travellers as well as move forward their business with responsibility to environment and local community. In addition, the community-based tourism has been awarded as one of the crucial category of the Thailand Tourism awards every year. Accordingly, we are glad to say that there are many potential community-based tourism to cater for the green travellers throughout Thailand; such as, Ban Na Ton Chan village in Sukhothai and Ban Na Chiew in Trat.
 

– Consistency of quality tourism & hospitality services offered.
 

Minister: The Thai tourism industry is about to enter a new era. The TAT’s marketing plan for 2016 will focus on promoting the kingdom as a “Quality Leisure Destination through Thainess.” The wording of the new strategy indicates an end to decades of focusing on “quantity”, as measured by visitor arrivals, and a total shift to “quality” as measured by visitor expenditure, average length of stay, and the overall quality of the visitor experience. Moreover, the promotion of the secondary destinations; such as ‘The 12 Hidden Gems’ and its subsequent chapter to ‘the 12 Hidden Gem Plus’ would help decrease the congestion of the tourists in the hotspots.
 

Better management of the visitor numbers will be the overarching objective for all of us. Strong competition will of course play a major role in upgrading quality because only those who offer quality products and services at value for money prices will survive. We are also working on all the challenges you mentioned. It’s work in progress. 

 

Photo: Minister Kobkarn between Muai Thai fighters is ready to negotiate with the British tour operators!