The Tourism Authority of Thailand has announced its international tourism campaign for 2007 - "Thailand - Unforgettable" - and its domestic campaign for the year, "Travel is a Part of Life".

It hopes the campaigns will help generate overall tourism revenue of Bt924 billion for next year.

The TAT aims to attract 15 million international tourists in 2007, an increase from its projected 13.3 million this year. The country is expected to earn Bt547 billion from foreign visitors, a 15-per-cent rise compared to this year.

The authority will focus on new destinations, sports activities, trendy destinations and special events in promoting the Kingdom to foreign tourists.

TAT governor Juthamas Siriwan said the Thailand - Unforgettable campaign would replace this year's "Thailand Grand Invitation".

The idea is aimed at bringing tourists all year round, instead of on seasonal visits as in the past.

Meanwhile, the agency will enhance Thailand as a tourism gateway to neighbouring countries, particularly China and Indo-China.

The TAT's domestic Travel is a Part of Life campaign is aimed at achieving 82 million trips through out the year, up from this year's 79 million. The revenue target is Bt377 billion, an 8-per-cent increase from 2006.

Juthaporn Ruengron-asa, deputy governor for domestic markets, said the TAT campaign would attract more potential travellers, especially expatriates and youth.

"For overseas residents, we will work closely with tour operators to offer special packages for Bangkok and its surrounding provinces. Various programmes for young travellers are also on the cards," said Juthaporn. She added that the TAT would cater to domestic tourists by offering bilingual information and travel manuals.

The TAT is eyeing eight major overseas markets: East Asia, Europe, America, Asean, South Asia, Oceania, the Middle East and Africa.

Apichat Sankary, president of Association of Thai Travel Agents, said the promotions would not achieve the stated target, as it is unrealistic.

"Going by tourist arrivals thus far, the TAT is likely to miss its tourist arrivals of 13.3 million for this year. So aiming for 15 million is far-fetched," said Apichart.

He suggested the agency rethink the themes for both the international and domestic campaigns.

"To attract international tourists, the TAT would do better to use 'Thailand - the Land of Smile' instead of 'Thailand - Unforgettable' as it would represent the whole Kingdom as a smiling country. And a specific promotion for Bangkok could be 'Bangkok - City of Angels' instead of 'Bangkok - City of Life'," he said.

Suchat Sritama

The Nation