The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) plans to promote Thailand in India's secondary cities, riding the rising trend of arrivals from that country.
BANGKOK- Thailand recorded one million arrivals from India last year and the number is expected to reach 1.1 million this year. This makes India one of only six incoming markets generating over a million travellers to Thailand per year.
Thailand ranks No.6 on India’s top 10 preferred destinations. Outbound tourists from India are projected to hit 20 million this year, up from 18 million last year.
Among the Indian destinations to be marketed are secondary cities such as Coimbatore, Mangalore, and Pune, said Sansern Ngaorungsi, TAT deputy governor for Asia and the South Pacific. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) undertook a tourism roadshow which finished on January 14.
The roadshow to the three emerging cities, all of which have been given international gateway status by the Indian government, is part of the TAT strategy to tap the rich potential of India’s populous secondary cities. This is in addition to the ongoing marketing activities in the primary four Indian megalopolises of Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, and Chennai.
Indian tourists have an average daily expenditure of 160 USD per person per day over an average length of stay of 7.19 days.
There has been rapid growth in aviation access. As of January 2013, there are 152 direct weekly services between Bangkok and major Indian cities including Delhi (45), Kolkata (35), Mumbai (45), Bangalore (7), Hyderabad (4), Madras/Chennai (14) and Bagdogra (2) by Thai Airways International, Philippine Airlines, Indigo, Jet Airways, Air India, Thai Air Asia, Bangkok Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Royal Bhutan Airlines and Air Austral.
Recently, the TAT and 15 tourism operators organised a road show in these cities and each operator was able to close five to six business deals with Indian tourism-related operators.
TAT is targeting families, Mice travellers, and film crews. Some 90 foreign films shot in Thailand last year.“Thailand success is also due to the fact that it has become a weekend destination for Indians,” said Mr Sansern.
Thai Airways International (THAI) recently launched direct flights from New Delhi and Mumbai to Phuket, which is helping to drive tourism in that region. THAI’s Smile, Thai Airways budget airline’s subsidiary, will start service from Bangkok to Ahmedabad on March 3.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
