The “NOW Travel Asia Luxury Thailand List China Roadshow” was being held between 21–22 May, 2015, at Astor House Hotel in Shanghai to spotlight Thailand as a luxury destination that can cater to high-class Chinese travellers from Shanghai and other parts of China.
SHANGHAI – The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) supported a new event held in China to promote the rapidly-growing luxury travel market.
The “NOW Travel Asia Luxury Thailand List China Roadshow” was being held between 21–22 May, 2015, at Astor House Hotel in Shanghai to spotlight Thailand as a luxury destination that can cater to high-class Chinese travellers from Shanghai and other parts of China.
The Roadshow organised by NOW Travel Asia magazine in collaboration with TAT. It comprised a table top sales and B2B session between a contingent of 21 sellers from Thailand including hotels and resorts (19), MICE (1), other tourism-related business (1), and a specially-invited group of 44 tour operators from China. Moreover, Thai sellers signed the contract with Ctrip, the leading travel agent in China, to further collaborate on business with each other in the future.
Also, media in China has been invited to cover the event and visit the TAT’s booth, which features a special theme of ‘Thailand Luxperience’. It features an update on the best of luxury products, services and destinations emerging in Thailand.
On the evening of 21 May, 2015, approximately 100 guests including leading Chinese travel agents and media, luxury Thai tourism operators, and senior Chinese government officials attended a gala dinner at Astor House.
The opening ceremony was presided over by Mr. Kenneth S. Wong, NOW Travel Asia’s CEO, Mr. Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya, TAT’s Executive Director of Advertising and Public Relations, and Mr. Chuwit Sirivajjakul, TAT Shanghai Office’s Director. Also, Mr. Chattan Kunjara made the product briefing of ‘Thailand Luxperience’ to showcase the luxury side of Thailand.
China is now the top source of visitor arrivals to Thailand. According to the January-March 2015 statistics, Chinese visitors had surged to 2.03 million, up 96% over the same period of 2014. In 2015, TAT is expecting more than 4.6 million Chinese tourists to Thailand.With the mass-market Chinese visitor numbers now flowing steadily, TAT has decided to shift its focus to the high-spending, and long-stay market in line with the overall strategy.
A full-scale market research study was done earlier this year to help fine tune its marketing and promotional strategies towards Chinese High Net Worth visitors.
The research was conducted in eight of China’s most populous cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Kunming, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Xi’an and Shenyang, with a sample base of 2,400 respondents. These cities were chosen because they have direct flight connections to Bangkok.
The study indicated that of the total Chinese outbound travellers, an estimated 10 million people are high-value tourists.
Thailand has a long tradition of catering to the luxury travel market perhaps best exemplified by many of our renowned hotels, which have hosted the rich and famous for many decades. TAT was highlighting products and services related to the honeymoon and cruise markets, both of which are in strong demand amongst the high-end customer segment.
In addition to the range of award-winning hotels and health and wellness resorts, already well-known among the world’s rich and famous, Thailand has seen the recent emergence of hip and intimate boutique pool villas located in some of the scenic and picturesque parts of Thailand.
Many wealthy travellers are also seeking new experiences; such as, learning how to cook Thai cuisine, give a traditional Thai massage and meditate. Shoppers, too, can find plenty of choices in both the multitude of modern multi-storey department stores and shopping complexes as well as small traditional street markets which are well worth the experience.
Photo caption: Mr. Kenneth S. Wong, NOW Travel Asia’s CEO, Mr. Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya, TAT’s Executive Director of Advertising and Public Relations, and Mr. Chuwit Sirivajjakul, co-presided over the gala dinner opening ceremony.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
