TAT welcomes Chinese couples with a “White Romance Beach Party 2016”

SAMUI – The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) hosted 51 Chinese honeymoon couples at the “White Romance Beach Party 2016” on June 25 at the Anantara Bophut Ko Samui Resort, Surat Thani, as part of its strategy to attract more weddings and honeymooners from Thailand’s largest source of visitor arrivals.

 

Ms. Runjuan Tongrut, TAT Director of the East Asian Region said, “This is one of the activities under the “Honeymoon in Thailand” project, which is being promoted by our offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Kunming, Chengdu and Guangzhou in cooperation with Chinese travel agents who are offering luxury packages to attract quality tourists from China and raise awareness of Thailand and Samui as a honeymoon destination.”

 

 

At the welcome reception, under the theme of “White Romance Beach Party”, the honeymooners dressed up all in white and participated in a contest to share their photographs or VDOs via their social media networks in China. The couple that had the highest number of “Like & Share” images receives a prize of another fully-hosted, five days – four nights’ package and four days-three nights package stay in Thailand including two round-trip air tickets from China to Thailand. Another prize of two air tickets was awarded to “The Most Popular Couple”.

 

Held annually since 2014, the “Honeymoon in Thailand” project has helped make Thailand the top outbound destination for Chinese travellers, particularly for weddings and honeymooners.

 

Samui Island is the premier island destination in the Gulf of Thailand. It is the largest in an archipelago of more than 80 islands that includes the Ang Thong National Marine Park, a kayaking paradise. It boasts fabulous beach resorts, internationally acclaimed restaurants, and world-class accommodation.

 

Thailand is one of the world’s popular wedding and honeymoon destinations, an acclaim that is backed by several awards and honours.

 

In early 2015, Thailand was named Asia’s Sexiest Romance/Honeymoon Destination by the US-based Recommend Magazine’s readers, and one of the world’s Best Honeymoon Destinations for 2015 by Fodors.com. In addition, the paradise island of Samui was listed by Veryfirstto.com as one of the top ten romantic destinations in the world alongside cities; such as, Paris and Venice.

 

The international wedding and honeymoon market in Thailand is valued at around 30 billion Baht per year, or about 3% of the overall tourism revenue.

 

In 2015, Thailand attracted 7.9 million Chinese tourists generating an estimated 376 million Baht in revenue for the Thai economy, up respectively 71% and 87% over 2014. In 2016, TAT estimated that Chinese tourists will total 10.5 million with an estimated expenditure of 509 billion Baht.

 

In January – April 2016, Chinese visitors to Thailand totalled 3,445,501, up 27.35% over the same period of 2015.

 

 

Photo caption: Chinese honeymoon couples at the “White Romance Beach Party 2016”