Tourism Authority of Thailand launches Mumbai Operations

Announces marketing initiatives to pursue niche markets

To accommodate the rapid growth of the Indian tourist traveling to Thailand, the Tourism Authority of Thailand has launched its second office at Mumbai’s premier business district in Nariman Point.

TAT’s Mumbai office will operate under the able guidance of Mr. Sethaphan Buddhani, Director, and Ms. Suladda Sarutilavan, Assistant Director. The TAT Mumbai office will also be supported by Charson Advisory Services Pvt. Ltd. leading destination marketing, brand management and public relations agency. Ms. Sonalee Vaz, Managing Director will lead the support team for TAT’s marketing activities, trade relations, media networking and brand management services. The TAT and Charson Advisory Mumbai office will be responsible for the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala; the Union Territories of Daman, Diu, Andaman & Lakshadweep in addition to  the countries of Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

Since its commencement, the Mumbai office has activated several initiatives to promote newer facets of Thailand. These initiatives included a FAM visit to Phuket for Indian travel agents from Mumbai & Chennai to attend the Andaman Travel & Trade exhibition.

As part of the focus of the Indian film industry, the Mumbai office conducted a familiarisation visit for several location coordinator and directors from productions houses. The team inspected film production facilities in destinations such as Bangkok, Krabi, Trang, Chiang Mai and Pai, whilst also discovering the lesser known scenic locales in Thailand.

Commenting on the recent marketing intiative, Mr. Sethaphan said, “ With overseas destinations now on a pursuit to entice the Indian market for promoting sports, we are looking at promoting Thailand as a golf destination as it offers some of the best golf courses. We intend to conduct various media and travel trade FAM trips throughout 2010 in order to target various segments.”

He further added, " Due to its various tourism offerings, the kingdom of Thailand still remains buoyant about it tourism projections, a boost to generate higher tourism revenue for the country. Every year Thailand witnesses a higher number of Indian tourist arrivals, in 2008 the country witnessed a tourist arrival of 524, 378. The year 2009 (Jan – Oct) also witnessed an excellent growth, where Thailand secured a tourist arrival of 494,219 from India. The performance reaffirms that tourism industry in Thailand is healthy and strong. With our various marketing initiatives we are looking at targeting niche segments.”

Further commenting on the Mumbai promotional activities, Ms. Sonalee Vaz, TAT Mumbai representative office said, “With the tourism industry experiencing heightened interest in the wedding season market, we are looking at promoting Thailand as a wedding and honeymooners destination as it serves as a convenient destination closer to home. Weddings as a marketing strategy, is definitely a trend as it grasps the imagination of people looking for natural beauty and culture.”

Whilst, the TAT Mumbai office will continue to promote Thailand as a destination for wedding and Bollywood, the unexplored striking north eastern region of Thailand will also look forward to receiving Indian travelers  for culture & heritage tourism post the ISAN trip scheduled to take place later in January 2010.