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“TAT Moving forward and What It Can Do for Thailand”
By Mr. Sugree Sithivanich,
TAT Deputy Governor for Marketing Communications
At the British Chamber of Commerce
Thailand Special Luncheon Meeting
9 November 2015, Bangkok
(20 minutes)
Sawasdee khrap, good afternoon distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
It is indeed a pleasure for me to be here today. Thank you for the good wishes extended to me upon my assumption of the role of TAT governor. This is my first appearance as TAT Governor at a chamber of commerce in Thailand, and I am happy to share a few ideas with you.
I have just returned from the UK after attending the World Travel Market in London, one of the biggest travel trade shows in the world. I must say that I was very impressed with the entire show and the dynamism of travel and tourism, an industry which is just as important to the UK as it is to Thailand. We do have a lot to learn from each other, and I look forward to working closely with you all to explore opportunities and address challenges in the years ahead. Directly and indirectly, many of you in the business community are involved with the travel and tourism industry and have an enormous stake in its future success. I will also use this opportunity to listen to you and get your comments and feedback.
My Personal Targets for Advancing the Thai Tourism Industry
Allow me to begin by outlining my personal vision to take the industry forward. As you have just been told, I have studied in Japan and had a long career in the government service. When I applied for the TAT Governor’s post, I spent a lot of time researching the industry. As a result, I have created what I call the M.O.V.E. concept to guide the industry in the next four years. This M.O.V.E. concept comprises of the following:
M: Marketing & More: Our goal is to promote the market and publicise a positive image of the country and the tourist attractions in order to increase tourism revenue and to be a popular world-class tourist destination.
On increasing tourism revenue, we are working to promote tourism to high-spending tourists in domestic markets and to expand the potential tourists who have a upper-middle income with high spending in international markets. Also, we have been tapping into new markets in areas with growth potential; such as, South America (Argentina and Brazil), Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
O: Operational Excellence: Our goal is to develop TAT to be a high-performance organisation, which is recognised both in the country and abroad. To this extent, we aim to utilise the TAT Academy to set up tourism marketing networks and create a new generation of TAT leaders as well as develop the TAT Intelligence Centre to help manage tourism. Other vital strategies to achieve the goal of operational excellence are the promotion of good values and good governance. Moreover, we recognise the need to embrace the corporate social responsibility (CSR), and for this we will dedicate time and effort to promote TAT’s economic, social and environmental values.
V: Value Creation: Our goal is to create an effective collaborative network amongst the public and private sector organisations both domestic and international throughout the tourism value chains in order to add value and drive sustainable tourism. We aim to join forces with the agencies involved in promoting community tourism, and to cultivate a strong culture of sustainable tourism through best practices. This is a part of our plans to promote local tourism to help spread revenue to local communities. Moreover, we would like to promote integrating tourism to be a part of the education curriculum since I personally recognise the role of tourism as a key driver for learning outside a classroom.
E: Effectiveness: Our goal is to develop a comprehensive strategy to manage crises and prevent problems related to tourism in Thailand, and boost the confidence and satisfaction levels of visitors. As you all are no doubt aware, in the immediate aftermath of the explosion incident at Bangkok’s Ratchaprasong Intersection, we immediately came up with a Bangkok Strong viral campaign to, in part, restore travellers’ confidence in Thailand as a destination.
I trust you will agree with the concept. I look forward to building a strong partnership with all the chambers of commerce in MOVING it forward.
Now, I will give you a brief roundup of the Thai tourism situation.
THAI TOURISM SITUATION
Preliminary figures from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports shows that between January-September 2015, the number of visitor arrivals to Thailand was up 27 percent over the same period of 2014 to more than 22 million, generating an estimated 1.05 trillion Baht in tourism revenue. In fact, we welcomed our 24 millionth visitor on 28 October 2015. And we are going to receive the 25 millionth visitor tomorrow. By the end of this year, we are projecting 28.8 million visitors, generating an estimated 1.4 trillion Baht in tourism income.
UK MARKET
Thailand and the UK have enjoyed long and fruitful relations dating back more than a century. With regard to our travel and tourism industry, visitors from the UK proved to be a bedrock in the early stages of its development in the 1970s.
During January to September this year, around 17 percent of all European visitors to Thailand were UK tourists who generated 48.62 billion Baht (884 million Pounds) for the country.
In 2014, Thailand welcomed more than 871,000 UK visitors. Even more important, UK visitors had an average length of stay of roughly 17 days per person per visit, about double the 9.83-day average of all visitors to Thailand. It is also longer than the European average length of stay of 16 days.
UK visitors also had average daily expenditure of 4,095 Baht per person, up 3 percent over 2013. This generated a total of about 61 billion Baht (1.1 billion Pounds) in foreign exchange revenue, or an increase of about 2 percent.
Today, I am proud to say that the UK is our second largest source of visitors. This makes the UK market fit perfectly with the TAT’s strategy to be a quality leisure destination.
Marketing Direction for Europe and the United Kingdom
I am pleased to report that arrivals from European markets are returning to normal this winter. There is enough direct airline capacity, and also significant amount of capacity by the Gulf airlines through their respective hubs. Although arrivals vary from one European country to another, the UK market has consistently performed well. Our TAT London team is constantly monitoring the pulse of the market to take advantage of new trends and tap emerging business potential.
Today, our London office is conducting various marketing activities via the trade, and backing them with various consumer campaigns. We have planned to do the partner-on-demand with many tour operators and travel agents as well as conduct various publicity channels including off and online media to target the consumer audience. For the pre-WTM 2015 tour, TAT held the Amazing Thailand Roadshow to the Nordics including Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm and during 27 to 29 October 2015.
Furthermore, the TAT London Office has prepared to organise the post-ITB roadshow in secondary markets in order to attract more first visitors from Edinburgh and Glasgow, as well as the main source market, London, in order to capture more of the quality market.
TAT Strategies in 2015
TAT has achieved a total shift to “quality” as measured by visitor expenditure, average length of stay, and the overall quality of the visitor experience. This year, TAT planned its tourism sales and public relations campaign under the theme of “2015 Discover Thainess.” This campaign has emphasised the priceless treasures of Thailand, which give Thainess its charm, makes us unique as a people, society and culture, and gives us our competitive advantage. The marketing messages have highlighted the concept of Creative Tourism under which tourists can experience the Thai way of life, Thai culture and hands-on Thai activities; such as, Thai boxing, Thai massage, Thai cooking, and Thai classical dance. The “Thainess” lifestyle is reflected in all our indigenously-designed handmade products and services.
We have also stepped up the use of “content marketing” via digital and online media to communicate and attract visitors. This has involved telling great stories about Thailand, its history, heritage, cuisine, culture, arts and crafts. Each story emphasises the importance of Thainess, and we are sure visitors will learn a lot about us in a simple, easy to read format.
Discover Amazing Stories
At the World Travel Mart in London, the Thai Pavilion was built around the theme of “Discover Amazing Stories.” To better illustrate what I mean by this, I will show you something we can all relate to – delicious Thai food in the manner of our world-famous Phat Thai.
One of the best ways to personally discover these stories is to travel to our 12 Hidden Gems – a dozen provinces in various parts of the country we have highlighted as places worth exploring more. They are shown on the screen. In fact, this project has become so successful since the beginning of the year, we have added 12 more to make it the 12 Hidden Gems Plus. Each province features a fascinating cultural, natural, modern, or even culinary attribute that must be experienced up close. This campaign helped to inject tourism revenue of more than 3.5 billion baht (62 million Pounds) into these secondary tourist destinations, according to the Kasikorn Research Centre.
The new Amazing Thailand logo
This year, we used the World Travel Mart as a platform to launch the new logo of the ‘Amazing Thailand’ campaign. This logo incorporates the attraction and appeal of that most well-known characteristic of Thainess – The Smile.
Ornate details of the traditional Thai Kanok pattern have been adjusted to create the ‘Smile’ symbol. It also represents friendship, enjoyment, happiness and hospitality. The letter ‘A’ in the word ‘Thailand’ has been re-designed to look like a pair of smiling eyes, which, when accompanied with the ‘Smile’ symbol, perfectly form a person’s smiling face. The colour schemes have also been specifically chosen to underpin the image of softness.
Niche Markets
The 2016 marketing strategy will concentrate on niche markets; such as, golfers, weddings and honeymoons, health and wellness visitors, and ‘halal tourism’ for Muslim visitors. It will also put balanced emphasis on growing the domestic market to prevent over exposure to the international markets. Among the niche-markets we are prioritising include:
Luxury Travellers: Thailand has a lot of potential and variety in terms of upscale products and services to accommodate high-end tourists in all dimensions including the stylish boutiques or beachfront pool villas in Phuket or Ko Samui, which offers the unrivalled holiday experience, many fine-dining restaurants guaranteed by global awards, such as Gaggan and Nahm, as well as numerous high-class department stores like Central Embassy and EmQuartier with countless brand-name flagship stores. For luxury travel, there are well-equipped yachts and cruises in Phuket and Pattaya to accommodate the need of classy island hoppers.
Wedding and Honeymoon: Our Thainess touch is very much reflected in our hospitality services when it comes to your most important day – your wedding. Whether you want to have it on the beach, on an elephant or under the sea, we can do it all. As such, Thailand’s hotels in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, and other destinations have the capability to arrange a memorable wedding of any size, and in any setting or theme you have dreamed for. As for honeymoons, our beautiful beach getaways and mountain resorts ensure a romantic holiday for every couple all year round.
Health and Wellness: The art of rejuvenation and healing, from organic spa therapies to traditional Thai massage, is an integral part of Thai culture. At either end of the wellness spectrum, you will find that our private hospitals are world-famous medical tourism magnets in themselves, with many prestigious American and European board doctors while there are many meditation sanctuaries located in peaceful spots around the country. This year, we have seen remarkable advancement in anti-aging care in Thailand, so that is an area you may want to keep an eye on.
Green Tourism: We will also retain a strong focus on catering to the continuing growing trend for green tourism, a holiday that compliments its environment and the local communities. These products include Community-Based Tourism (CBT) or numerous villages nationwide. This is the best way to help support our objective of wealth distribution. You can enjoy bird watching trips, eco-friendly diving, cycling tours and nature walks.
Sports Tourism: Sport for All + Sport for Excellence
TAT has always been a main supporter of major international sport events in Thailand. In the past year, we have had an active role in ensuring that important tournaments and matches are held in Thailand. These have included the renowned match of the two tennis superstars in “Back to Thailand ‘Nadal VS Djokovic’ (นาดาล Vs. ยอโควิช) on 2 October, 2015, as well as the European tour in the “True Thailand Classic 2015 Presented by Black Mountain” in Hua Hin during 12-15 February, 2015, and many competitions of famous Thai – boxing matches of “Thai Fight.”
As you can see, Thailand is the place to come for anything ranging from golf to Muay Thai. In addition, we also support teams and athletes that can help us to promote the Amazing Thailand brand. This is evident in our supporting Ms. Pornanong Phatlum (พรอนงค์ เพชรล้ำ), Thailand’s best-known female professional golfer as the brand ambassador for promoting Thailand to be a world-class golf destination.
Infrastructure development
The Airports of Thailand Public Company Limited is expanding its major international airports to keep up with the growing number of passengers. The expansion at Suvarnabhumi Airport is almost doubling its annual handling capacity to 80 million passengers per year by 2020 while the opening of the second passenger terminal at Don Mueang International Airport will bring its annual capacity to 30 million by the end of 2015. Moreover, Phuket International Airport is being expanded to more than double its annual capacity to 12.5 million passengers by 2016.
You will also be happy to know that an agreement has been signed to further develop the U-tapao-Rayong-Pattaya International Airport for commercial purposes. This is in line with the government’s “one airport, two missions” directive, under which the navy-operated airport would serve both security and commercial missions. The first phase includes the construction of a new passenger terminal, which is expected to be completed in June 2016 and capable of handling three million passengers a year.
Another promising area is the cruise market. Thailand welcomes an average of about 100,000 cruise passengers per year, but we are projecting more after completion of an upgraded cruise ship port in Phuket this year. New cruise ports are also planned in Krabi, Ko Samui, and Surat Thani in south Thailand. We will also launch a “Super Yacht” show in Phuket next February to kick off the Super Yacht market in Thailand by allowing super yacht owners to have their yachts leased for commercial use while the owners are away. Foreign investors will also be invited to build more super yacht marinas.
ASEAN Economic Community
The advent of the ASEAN integrated community as of 2016 will open up huge opportunities for building on our geographical advantage in accessibility, trade and travel in both the ASEAN and Greater Mekong Subregion. Thailand is the only country to share land borders with four ASEAN countries (Malaysia, Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Myanmar). That makes us a logical gateway to some of the fastest-growing tourism destinations in the world.
One of the most important developments in the ASEAN region will be the Asian Highway, a massive network of roads that will make it possible to access all these countries, just like in Europe. This means no shortage of touring options. We have been working with our neighbouring countries on joint promotional efforts for many years and will continue to emphasise our connectivity with Myanmar, Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Vietnam.
CONCLUSION
Ladies and gentlemen,
The Thai travel and tourism industry is well placed to become the country’s leading foreign exchange earning industry and job creator. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all of you for your help and cooperation in its development. Our job in the government is to create the opportunities which you can translate into business actions. As such, My door is always open to your opinions and constructive suggestions.
Once more, thank you for the honour of inviting me here. I will be happy to answer a few questions.
Thank you and sawasdee khrap.
To download the power point presentation of this speech, please click
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