Thailand's Indian tourist market faces challenge

At the sixth Outbound Travel Mart (OTM) in Mumbai, national tourism organisations and travel operators from Southeast Asia - including Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines - presented their aggressive marketing campaigns to attract Indian tourists to their countries.

They believe that India is a land of great opportunity, particularly for tourism, because it will have 403,000 millionaires within three years and the world's largest population, ahead of China, in 2025.

Suraphon Svetserani, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), said Thailand remains the top destination for Indians but now faces tougher competition from key |players both in India and abroad, namely Germany, Turkey, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

With the number of Indian visitors leaping 20.57 per cent to 916,787 last year, Thailand was the No 1 destination while India became the sixth-largest source market for the country, he said. This reflected the growing economy, improving air access and facilities and increasing affordability.

TAT will continue its marketing strategy by reinforcing Thailand's brand image under the "Amazing Thailand Always Amazes You" theme while conducting marketing and promotions through digital and online networks as well as online games and mobile applications.

TAT will also trumpet sustainable tourism to encourage corporate social responsibility among travel operators and travellers. Last, it will use a combination of traditional and digital media to communicate with tourists and travel operators in times of crisis.

Sethaphan Buddhani, director of TAT's Mumbai office, said weddings, golf and film shoots remained the top priority of TAT's strategy to lure big spenders from India.

This year TAT forecasts a |20-per-cent surge in tourist arrivals from India to 1 million, of whom 50 per cent would be from the leisure market, 30 per cent from incentive groups and the rest from the niche segments of golf, film shoots and weddings.

"Although those niche markets contribute about 20 per cent of all Indian tourists to Thailand, they are big spenders and repeaters," he added.

At OTM 2012 last week, Thai travel operators Safari World, Siam Ocean World, Phuket FantaSea and Amari Watergate hotel told The Nation that they wanted to have more incentive groups from India.

Pornnapa Lertpitaksit, senior sales manager at Amari Watergate Bangkok, said Indian incentive groups could fill up the hotel's rooms during the low season from April-October, while her 269-room hotel at the heart of the commercial district of Bangkok offered them 24 meeting rooms with international standard amenities.

LURE OF PHUKET

Phuket will become another destination for Indians after increased air links between the two countries. In April, Thai Airways International is scheduled to start operating two flights a week on the Mumbai-Phuket-Bangkok-Mumbai route and a direct daily flight from New Delhi to Phuket.

"We hope to welcome more incentive groups from those key cities," said Saranya Charuvastr, marketing promotion director at Phuket FantaSea.

The Philippines is also eyeing this 1.2-billion-population country. Glen Augestin, chief tourism operations officer and head of the India team at the Philippines' Tourism Depart-ment, said the agency would continue to promote beautiful beaches and resorts, nightlife and shopping to lure Indian families this year.

It also expects a 50-per-cent surge in tourist arrivals and receipts this year, mainly by targeting meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE). Last year it welcomed 43,000 Indian visitors.

Masrurosh, deputy director for MICE Association Affairs at the Indonesian Cultural and Tourism Ministry, said meeting and incentive groups were key targets for the country. It will promote 10 MICE destinations including Jakarta, Yokya-karta and Bali. This year it expects to receive 180,000 Indian visitors, up from 160,000 last year.