Tourism Authority of Thailand Governor was interviewed by Travel Reporter Karnjana Karnjanatawe at the Bangkok Post who failed to ask any questions of substance allowing the TAT Governor to generalize, make wild forecasts, and avoid any real issues.
This is typical of the Bangkok Post and of the Tourism Authority of Thailand since the almost English daily has yet to learn how to do any investigative journalism and TAT lives in a make-believe world from 1950.
Tourism Authority of Thailand Governor
Tourism Authority of Thailand Governor Thawatchai Arunyik got this job due to his party affiliation – not because of his qualifications. Yes, he has worked at TAT for many years, but that does not mean he is qualified to run the organization.
The interview, The power of positive thinking, shows just how clueless the Tourism Authority of Thailand Governor is and how lame the interviewer is. Let me go through this article and point out just how clueless both are.
Political demonstrations in Bangkok have reached their fifth month and look set to continue, as do the incidents of violence that have occurred at protest sites and during marches. The political turmoil has also affected the tourism industry and scared away a number of international tourists, especially those from the Middle East, some countries in Europe and South Asia. Despite this, 2,319,821 people made the trip to Thailand in January, up 0.06% from the same period of last year.
A real journalist would investigate the claim of foreign tourist arrivals especially since the Minister of Tourism and Sports is saying that foreign tourist arrivals are down 25,000 daily
Average arrivals of foreign tourists fell to 45,000 per day in the first two months of this year compared to 70,000 in the same period last year, Thai Tourism & Sports Minister Somsak Pureesrisak said yesterday. Exports (THCTEXPY), which account for about two-thirds of GDP, fell a more than estimated 1.98 percent in January from a year earlier, data showed.
So, how can the number of foreign tourist arrivals be up? No investigative journalism here.
Although this is undoubtedly a tough time for promoting tourism in Thailand, the newly-appointed governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Thawatchai Arunyik remains calm and is continuing to think positive.
In reality, the Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand doesn’t have to worry because he can make up any numbers of foreign tourist arrivals or domestic trips and no one would dare question him.
“We can turn the crisis into an opportunity,”; Thawatchai says, before conceding that “It is a big challenge, because when political violence breaks out on the streets in Bangkok, the perception from international travellers is that it happened in Thailand. We must send out the message that the protests occur in limited areas of Bangkok. They can still visit other parts of Thailand.”
Yes, Governor of Tourism Authority of Thailand, you can continue to sugar coat the Bangkok Shutdown protests and lie about the locations like your staff does daily at TATnews.org but the truth is out there on Twitter and via the real news media.
We also use this opportunity to promote other tourism destinations like Phuket or Chiang Mai, which has direct flights from various countries,” he said.
You know Governor, you said the same thing 2 months ago - Within Every Crisis Lies an Opportunity – TAT Governor Thawatchai Arunyik:
This includes the key tourism cities of Chiang Mai, Phuket, Samui, Hat Yai, Hua Hin/Cha-am and Pattaya as well as secondary cities; such as, Kanchanaburi, Chiang Rai, Khon Kaen, Nakhon Ratchasima, Nong Khai, Rayong and many more.
And, where are all the Tourism Authority of Thailand promotions?
TAT is confident that Thailand can achieve its target of 28.1 million international visitors for 2014, which is a 9% increase from last year’s 26 million.
Only because the Tourism Authority of Thailand can make up the numbers and TAT counts anyone that enters Thailand for less than one year as a tourist.
“As long as there is no further violence, I am confident that the second half of the year can make up for the slow first half, but we will wait until the end of this month to see if we should revise our target,” he said.
Will be interesting to see if the Tourism Authority of Thailand uses fiscal or calendar. Usually, they use fiscal year beginning in October to count the high season foreign tourists. But, if they do that now, it would show millions have canceled trips to Thailand.
Here come the “tough” questions:
What is your advice for travellers?
I’d like to invite travellers to access our live cam website (livecam.tourismthailand.org) so that they can see that things are pretty normal in well-known tourist destinations such as Chiang Mai, Samui and Phuket. We also have a crisis management centre to update the current political situations to tourists, as, of course, we are concerned about tourist safety whether they are locals or foreigners. For Thais who would like a break from the current political situation, I’d like to encourage them to go out and travel around the country.
Except the live cam isn’t live. The political situation updates are sugar-coated and generally a day or two late.
I know that our repeat foreign visitors will continue to come to Thailand because they know where the situations take place and they understand Thai people. But for first time visitors, I am sure they will be concerned for their safety because they have never been to Thailand before.
Wrong. Repeat visitors are not repeating. They are going elsewhere.
How do you plan to communicate all this to tourists?
Based on the principles of public relations, I will use the same media that our visitors consume. For example, when CNN reported about the clash [on February 18 when police reclaimed the protest site of Phan Fah Bridge], we contacted the news site with accurate information.
We also communicate through online media and newspapers. We recently worked with Thai Airways to organise familiarisation trips to fly media from about 40 countries that had issued travel notices and warned their citizens not to travel to Thailand. We took them on a tour around Bangkok, Ayutthaya and Pattaya to let them see from themselves. The trip ended well and we hope to have a good response.
So, the Tourism Authority of Thailand contacted CNN when CNN has a reporter on the ground at the bridge filming the attacks. I am sure that CNN totally ignored the Tourism Authority of Thailand. Funny, that the familiarization trip received absolutely no publicity at all showing that the Tourism Authority of Thailand is clueless when it comes to the “principles of public relations”. Hell, even the Tourism Authority of Thailand International Public Relations on Facebook is clueless posting a photo of spaghetti with shrimp and basil as a way to entice foreigners to Thailand.
Have you prepared in the event of a violent or extreme scenario?
We have prepared for that, although I am hoping for the best. If there is another clash in Bangkok, we will continue to do our best in promoting tourism in the other parts of the our country that are safe. But this is not an easy task because when the news broke about Thailand, people thought of the whole country, not only one area.
We’ve coined an idea about promoting Thailand by region and will have a specific theme for each; namely North for Thai culture, Northeast for tradition, West for family holidays, East for entertainment and leisure and South for the high-end market and fun. Then we will create advertisements for each region to promote a new perception of Thailand to travellers.
Well, there is terrorism in the three southernmost provinces, there were clashes and grenades tossed in Trat, and protests in Chiang Mai and Phuket. Plus, the Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand doesn’t have a clue what his staff is doing online, especially at Facebook, since it recently promoted Lumpini Park – the sole area where the current protest is being held. – Tourism Authority Of Thailand Promotes Dangerous Lumpini Park
The “brilliant” idea of promoting the various geographical locations is directed at domestic travel – not foreign tourists.
The tourism industry always expects an increasing number of visitors year after year. Do you think the focus is too much on quantity than quality visitors?
I have to clarify this. Many people misunderstand the meaning of quality visitor. The definition of quality means those who have high-spending each day whilst travelling in Thailand or on average around 4,000-5,000 baht per day. If one tourist stays in a three-star hotel, he or she can be a quality visitor because he/she has paid for many things and also directly to local sellers.
On the other hand, another visitor who spends nights in a five star hotel and does not come out of the hotel, but spends a lot – say 10,000 baht or 100,000 baht a day is also a traditional quality visitor. Both are quality. But the high-end market only accounts for around 10% of the world population, so how much of that portion can we expect to get?
It is better to instead attract the middle-class market — the largest group of worldwide travellers, as long as they are not part of tour soon rien (zero-baht tourism) market. On these tours visitors may receive “free packages”, but they are forced to visit shops or buy things at unreasonable prices to cover all costs. We should focus more on foreign individual tourists [non-package tourism] visiting our country.
It is necessary to measure the success of the tourism industry via the increase in number of tourists and their spendings, otherwise I do not know how to gauge if the industry is successful or not.
The Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand shows his stupidity and lack of understanding here. No one in their right mind spends 100,000 baht per day in Thailand and few spend 10,000. The TAT Governor must not realize that China made those zero-baht tours illegal months ago and that is why there is a steep decline in Chinese tourists.
Gauging success based on how much tourists spend is a great idea but impossible to do. So, the Tourism Authority of Thailand has to lie.
Do you need to adjust strategies for the domestic market as people appear not too keen to travel?
We’ve never had such a problem before. This year, the country’s gross domestic product is expected to shrink and domestic consumption is waning. We’ve therefore tried to create new incentives with allies in the travel sector to launch effective and creative tourism campaigns.
For example, we recently launched the “All Out Fun!” campaign with Air Asia to promote tourism in the North, Northeast and the South with special fares to encourage people to travel more. We also worked with Kasikorn Bank to promote special campaigns for its credit card holders to travel to the North.
We are also thinking about talking to hotel owners to offer other incentives that encourage people to spend on travelling.
Yes Mr. Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand – you have had such problems before – in 2006 there was a coup. In 2008, the Yellow Shirts took over Suvarnabhumi International Airport. In 2010, the Red Shirts rioted in Bangkok for about 2 months setting the city on fire at the end. And, in 2011, Thailand suffered the worst flooding in over 50 years. There were no incentives then and none now.
From what the Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand just said, these so-called “incentives” are for domestic travel only.
Can the power of positive thinking work in this situation?
I have never said “no”. If there is a new idea or an approach, I will say “Let’s try”, “It is possible” or “It’s good.” Before I decide to do anything, I will apply 360-degree thinking. I will push it if it is good. But if a problem occurs, I will find out reasons why and try to think it over again.
I think having positive thinking has shaped my working philosophy. And also for the present situation in Thailand, if we could think positive, do good things and think a lot about our country and think less about ourselves, I believe it will benefit all.
Positive thinking and stupid campaigns like “Extreme Makeover” are not going to bring tourists to Thailand. The interviewer asked the softest of questions and the Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand gave the simplest of answers.
Why not ask the Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand about the jet-ski scams in Phuket or the jewelry scams in Bangkok?
Why not ask about tourists getting mugged and/or raped or have their drinks spiked with drugs during Full Moon Parties.
Why not ask why the Tourism Authority of Thailand Provincial Offices only post in the Thai language on Facebook?
Why not ask why the Tourism Authority of Thailand cannot post their own photos?
Why not ask the Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand the following?
Why don’t you have a Twitter account and why isn’t Twitter used by the Tourism Authority of Thailand to get news on the current political situation out to foreigners and local Thais?
What do you and your 6 followers use Quora for?
Why does your LinkedIn profile sill list you as Deputy Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand?
Why does Assistant Director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Chayanandh Kaenkaew, post for you at your Facebook page?
Why does the Tourism Authority of Thailand continue to promote the failed Thainess theme?
See, the Tourism Authority of Thailand lives in the past, markets to local Thais poorly, markets to foreigners the same way as they do locally, and is very digitally challenged.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand continues to hold conventions that people only go to for the freebies and air conditioning, gives free trips to travel bloggers and calls them “international media”, and has yet to figure out how to use Social Media.
But, me being the nice guy that I am, I am going to explain to the Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand how a foreigner plans and books a trip to Thailand. I have one upcoming next month to Rayong and even though I am in Thailand, the basic principles apply.
First off, I had to decide where I wanted to go. I did this searching online for beaches in Thailand that foreign tourists rarely go to. My searching led me to discover Mae Ramphueng Beach in Rayong. I do my searching using Google, Google images, and YouTube. The last place I would go to is the Tourism Authority of Thailand website. Why? Here is the sum total of information on Hat Mae Ramphueng:
Turn right on Sukhumvit road KM 229 and drive for another 12 kilometers to reach Hat Mae Ramphueng, this 10 kilometers beach has a slightly flat-slope to the sea which is perfect for beach activities.
and
make a right turn on Sukhumvit Road at kilometre 229 and head for Mae Ramphueng Beach which stretches for 12 kilometres.
So, which is it? 10 or 12 kilometers long? What else is there to do? Where are the restaurants? Where are the hotels and guesthouses?
This is why I don’t use the Tourism Authority of Thailand official website for information – there is none!
So, I go to Thai Airways and then to AirAsia and compare prices online and choose Thai Airways even though AirAsia is a little cheaper. My choice.
I then go to places like Agoda.com, Booking.com and TripAdvisor to look for a place to stay. I am interested in price, location, and spend a long time reading reviews.
I also post to a couple Thai forums and pray for information and search on Facebook for a page on Mae Ramphueng Beach. I also get a couple of accommodation recommendations here.
I check the recommendations to see if the guesthouse has a website and see if I can get a better price than at Agoda.com or Booking.com and I do.
I then contact the driver I have used for over 10 years by email and book him for the ride from Suvarnabhumi International Airport to Rayong’s Mae Ramphueng Beach.
The point is Mr. Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand that I did not need or want to use the Tourism Authority of Thailand website since it is worthless. Nor did I want to get information from the nearest Provincial Office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand using Facebook since I knew I would not get any answers. Certainly, I did not want to call the TAT contact Center at 1672 since no one speaks understandable English and your TAT Contact Center Website is all in the Thai Language. Why?
Mr. Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand – you can continue to live in your fantasy world and look at Thailand through rose-colored glasses, but the reality is that tourism to Thailand is on the decline and you are losing billions of baht to your ASEAN neighbors and it will only get worse once the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) kicks off next year.
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