Bangkok--28 Oct--TAT
Nearly 70 travel agents and media representatives from Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and the Central Asian Republics are visiting Thailand between 24 October — 1 November, 2009, for a “mega fam trip” designed to attract more visitors from one of Thailand’s most important source markets. The 58 travel agents, tour operators and 11 media hail from many of Russia’s key cities; such as, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Yeketerinburg, Rostov-na-Donu, Vladivostok and Khabarovsk, as well as countries such as Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Uzbekistan.
They have been invited to visit Thailand and survey the new tourism products and services in preparation for their package tours in the winter of 2009-2010.
In 2008, Russian visitors to Thailand totaled 319,587, up 14.23% over 2008, and generated 16.24 billion Baht in tourism income. During 2002 — 2008, Russian visitors to Thailand grew by an annual average of 28.79% while expenditure grew by an annual average of 32.76%.
However, due to the recent global financial crisis and economic slowdown, Russian visitor arrivals to Thailand fell 29.43% during January — April 2009. Hence, the TAT Moscow office is seeking to revive this market by launching the “Welcome to Thailand Mega Fam” programme.
During their stay here, business to business meetings organised by TAT will give the visiting agents, operators, and media a chance to meet with 134 local Thai operators.
TAT estimates that this mega fam trip will generate 293,000 visitors from the Russian market alone, generating roughly 14.03 billion baht in tourism income over the winter season, most of it during this year.
Mrs. Juthaporn Rerngronasa, TAT Deputy Governor for Marketing Communications, Tourism Authority of Thailand said “Our research into the Russian market shows many opportunities for growth.
“The most important thing is that it is mainly a winter-season market, as Russians love the warm weather, the beaches, and the sea. Many are also enjoying learning how to dive in our resorts on both sides of the south Thailand peninsula which are home to some of the most dazzling underwater wonders anywhere.”
Russians get a visa on arrival in Thailand. Most visitors from Russia travelled to Thailand for a holiday, especially to popular beach resorts like Pattaya and Phuket, which are attracting Russian charter traffic.
In addition, as of October 2009, six direct scheduled weekly flights are being operated between Moscow - Bangkok by Thai Airways International and Aeroflot Russian Airlines. Many Russian visitors are also coming via Doha and Dubai on Emirates airlines and Qatar Airways.
In accordance with the TAT marketing plan, the potential customer market segments are high-end tourists, MICE delegates, combined package tours with neighbouring countries, and stopover traffic in Bangkok.
The emerging market segments are identified as female tourists (spa and medical tourism, shopping); families (soft adventures, sea beaches); youth tourism (sports, ecotourism) and sports-lovers and professionals (golf, yachts, diving, rafting, trekking).
Thailand occupies the 10th position in the preferred destinations of Russian tourists worldwide and second position in Asian destinations preferred by Russian tourists (after PR China).
Contact information:
International Public Relations Division
Tourism Authority of Thailand
Tel: +66 (0) 2250 5500 ext. 4545-48
Fax: +66 (0) 2253 7419
E-mail: prdiv3@tat.or.th
Web site: www.tatnews.org