Bangkok--27 Apr--AirAsia
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) continues its 2018 Year of Thai Travel campaign, aimed at dispersing economic stimulation to secondary cities, by joining hands with Thai AirAsia to unveil the "Shades of the River" airplane livery, which reflects the beauty of simple Thai living and the nation's bond to its waterways. The design is to be presented to domestic and international passengers this July.
Mr. Kitsana Kaewtumrong, TAT's Executive Director of Advertising and Public Relations, said that this is the "Amazing Thailand Tourism Year2018". The goal for this year is to have tourism support stability, the economy, social psychology and foreign relations. Based on Thai culture, TAT is to use tourism to disperse revenue to all areas and is supporting community tourism in 55 secondary provinces, targeting no less than 10 million people visiting such locations. The goal is to adjust the proportion of Thai and foreign tourists in major tourism cities to minor cities from a current 70:30 to 65:35 and increase revenue from tourism to grassroots areas by no less than 10 billion Baht.
"The secondary cities concept is a key strategy for growth. Each of these cities has a unique experience and charm that TAT is trying to promote. Domestically, we have the 'Thiao Thai Tae' campaign (Amazing Cool Thailand), which brought about our cooperation with AirAsia to unveil the 'Shades of the River' livery," Mr. Kitsana said.
Mr.Krid Pattanasan Government Relations Manage of Thai AirAsia, said AirAsia has been working continually with TAT to stimulate domestic tourism and has used airplane decorations to communicate with both domestic and foreign tourists. We have so far had three different TAT liveries, Discover Thainess (Si Suphannahong Boat), Yak Cute and Amazing Culture (Silk). 'Shades of the River' is the fourth such decoration and reflects the art and beauty of Thailand. It is currently being produced and will be put to use from July 2018 both for domestic and international flights.
"This latest collaboration with TAT is based on our desire to support Thai tourism, and we believe it will attract many more tourists. In 2017, 63 % of our 12.5 million passengers were domestic, underlining the growth potential of the domestic tourism market. We are ready to continue to synchronise our policies with TAT and support travel to secondary cities by expanding our network of destinations and cross-regional connections in the hope of democratising economic growth to all areas," Mr.Krid said.