Akshay Kumar – Mumbai
Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is promoting luxury experiences to Indian travellers by hosting the third luxury roadshow in India. This three-city roadshow in Mumbai, Delhi and Ludhiana, witnessed some of the niche products that Thailand has to offer. With this move, Thailand is now more focused in quality tourism strategy. Presently, seven to 10 per cent of the total Indian arrivals are luxury travellers.
Kittipong Prapattong, director ASEAN, South Asia and South Pacific market division, TAT said, “Thailand is now moving to a more quality- focussed tourism strategy. We want travellers who are looking for a higher quality of experience in Thailand. This doesn’t mean we are only targeting the niche HNI segment, but also the middle class qualifies as our target audience, if they are looking to spend a little extra on having an extraordinary experience in Thailand that he might not be able to afford in many other parts of the world. The Indian market has a lot of potential and it is one of the top spenders in our nation. We want to create experiences where Indians can increase their length of stay.”
In 2014, The Kingdom of Thailand had marked a drop of six to nine per cent in tourist footfall. Thailand had received around 0.94 million tourists from India as compared to 1.02 million in 2013. One of the major reasons for the decrease in tourism was the coup d’état in the Kingdom from May 2014. But this year Thailand has already witnessed a considerable growth in tourist inflow from India.
Speaking about the growth, Soraya Homchuen, director, TAT Mumbai office said, “From January- August 2015, we have received around seven lakh tourists from India. We want to keep a track and reach our target of one million mark again this year end.”
Proving a good year for tourism, in 2015 once again there was a downfall after the bombing which took place on August 17 inside the Erawan Shrine at the Ratchaprasong intersection. This incidence again impacted tourism in Thailand, but still the numbers from India was not impacted.
Prapattong added, “Yes, there was a knee-jerk reaction globally due to the bombing incident, though I know India didn’t react very much. Globally, we saw 300,000 cancellations instantly. But within a few days, numbers were back and people were booking again. The Hong Kong market which is one of our biggest source markets began to travel to Thailand again in a few days following the blasts. Their social media posts and their confidence was contagious and I think they helped most of our travellers return. They helped change global perception and rebuild confidence.”