Over 800 international tour operators and travel journalists are due to visit the Andaman coast provinces…
Over 800 international tour operators and travel journalists are due to visit the Andaman coast provinces of Thailand for a Mega Fam Trip from March 3 – 7, 2005. TravelDailyNews International will be represented by its editor in chief Vicky Karantzavelou.
The familiarization trip is being organised by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), THAI Airways International, Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT) and the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB).
The event has been organised as part of the Andaman Recovery plans to promote and revive the six provinces that were hit by the December 26, 2004, Tsunami.
It will give the agents and media a chance to see for themselves the readiness and safety of the destinations to resume receiving visitors in full force.
TAT Governor Mrs. Juthamas Siriwan said, The world needs to know that most of the destinations are open and safe to travel. We hope the agents and media, in their primary role as opinion-shapers, will reflect this in their writings and sales efforts.
The groups will come from most of Thailand`s main source markets of Europe, Southeast Asia, China, Japan and Australia. The Japanese group will be the largest with a total of 220 travel agents and media. Other groups are from the Middle East, New Zealand, USA and India.
They will visit Phuket and Krabi in two batches. Programme A will be from March 3 – 6 and begin at Krabi and then go on to Phuket. Programme B will be from March 4 – 7 and begin in Phuket and then go on to Krabi.
On March 5, 2005, both groups will meet in Phuket where TAT will give a special presentation and host lunch for all the visitors.
THAI Airways International is sponsoring all the air-tickets. The airline has closely coordinated its plans with TAT overseas offices to ensure the selection of productive and professional travel agents and writers.
TAT is arranging the accommodation, tour programmes and ground transportation.The private sector including hoteliers, tour operators, restaurants and theme parks are working with TAT and other organisers to make this event a success. The Mega Fam Trip is being strategically organised before the world`s largest travel trade show, the Internationale Tourismus-Borse 2005 (ITB) in Berlin. ITB has always been an important arena for business between representatives of the Thai tourism industry and international tour operators.
Mrs Juthamas said: We`re hoping the Fam Trip will help to stimulate the market, so that it prepares the ground for a good response at ITB 2005.
She added that inspite of the temporary downturn in visitors caused by the Tsunami, Thailand is not revising its previously set target of 13.38 million arrivals in 2005.
Instead, it is hoped that events like the Mega-Fam Trip and other marketing promotions will produce good results and more than compensate for the effects of the Tsunami.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales. She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
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