It seems like every day the Tourism Authority of Thailand is announcing a new campaign to try to win tourists to Thailand.
Rehashing the old “Amazing Thailand” to now be “Amazing Thailand Always Amazes You” was bad enough for the Tourism Authority of Thailand, but these almost daily new campaigns are getting ridiculous.
Thailand Nightlife
The original BIG plan by the Tourism Authority of Thailand was that 2012 was going to be called “Miracle Thailand”. I guess that the Tourism Authority of Thailand figured it needed a few miracles to get tourists to visit Thailand.
Then, with the floods, the name changed to “New Thailand”, but the Thai Government scrapped that idea for reasons only known to the Thai Government.
Keep in mind that the Tourism Authority of Thailand has also come up with “Slow Travel Thailand”, “Green Thailand”, “We Care Ayutthaya – A Cleaning Day”, “Thailand Ideal Family Holiday Destination”, “The Most Amazing Show On Earth”, “Stopover Bangkok“, “Go Thailand: All That Is Missing Is You”, “Dancing Matt”, “Go Thai, Be Free” (aimed at the LGBT market), “Seven Amazing Wonders of Thailand”, “E-marketing campaign for Medical Tourism”, “Medical Tourist Blogger Contest”, “Healthy Beauty Holiday in Thailand”, “You are in Good Hands” (stolen from Allstate?), “Thailand Happiness Deals”, “72 Hours Amazing Thailand”, “Ultimate Thailand Explorers”, “Unseen Thailand”, “Amazing Thailand, Amazing Value”, “Happiness on Earth”, “Hearing the Sunshine by Amazing Thailand”, “Songkran Splendours Festival”, “Amazing Thailand Grand Sale”, “CHIC by Thailand”, “Amazing shot Amazing Experience”, “Her Own Way”, “Fruitful Visitors”, and lately, “Beautiful Thailand”. The list could go on forever, but I got tired or typing. Same old shit with different campaign names.
The latest attempt by the Tourism Authority of Thailand is the “Thailand Welcomes The World” campaign. As reported in the Bangkok Post, New TAT campaign aimed at getting off on the right foot with foreign arrivals, this is the BIG plan by the Tourism Authority of Thailand to meet and greet passengers at Suvarnabhumi International Airport. Stupid.
Although nice to be greeted by a smiling face, similar to receiving a lei in Hawaii, these are people that are already tourists in Thailand. The Tourism Authority of Thailand needs to go after people in Europe, America, and elsewhere and try to convince them to come here and not go after tourists that are already here.
Here is the MASTER PLAN from the Tourism Authority of Thailand:
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) will introduce “Thailand Welcomes the World”, its new campaign aimed at impressing international travellers from their first step inside the country.
Nice to be greeted, but these folks are already in Thailand on holiday. The Tourism Authority of Thailand needs to target people who have not yet decided to visit the Land of Smiles.
“Thailand is now rehabilitating itself in the wake of massive flooding, so we must make a strong impression on tourists by giving them a warm welcome as soon as they arrive,” said governor Suraphon Svetasreni.
NO. The Thai Government and the Tourism Authority of Thailand lost the opportunity to make an impression DURING the floods by issuing contradictory, incomplete, inaccurate, and false reports. Today is 12 December at about 1000 and the latest “situation update” from the Tourism Authority of Thailand TATnews web site is from 30 November. And, the Tourism Authority of Thailand wonders why it has absolutely NO credibility.
The 20-million-baht campaign, which will run from January-August, is part of the TAT’s 2.8-billion-baht tourism recovery plan.
This money is in addition to the 6 BILLION baht that the Tourism Authority got for its annual budget. BIG waste by the Tourism Authority of Thailand of $100 million dollars (USD).
It will focus on offering greater convenience to tourist arrivals at Suvarnabhumi airport, considered the main gateway to the country.
The job of the Tourism Authority of Thailand is supposed to be – GET TOURISTS TO THAILAND – not greet them once they are already here.
Seventy officials speaking Chinese, Japanese and English will be deployed to work in three shifts around the clock to assist tourists.
To do what? Help them get a taxi? Big waste of money by the Tourism Authority of Thailand.
“Long queues for immigration and visas on arrival will be resolved. Ten golf carts will be used to serve the elderly and visitors with disabilities. Immigration police will be trained to be service-oriented,” said Prakit Piriyakiat, the deputy governor for marketing communications.
HAHAHAHAHAHA – the Tourism Authority of Thailand has no say in what Thai Immigration does. They cannot get Thai Immigration to move any faster when tourists arrive. And, there will be NO TRAINING provided to the Thai Immigration Police. This is utter bullshit.
Computers with internet connections and telephones allowing free calls into Bangkok will be offered at the airport.
This is stupid. When anyone arrives at a new location, all they want to do is clear customs, get their bags, maybe exchange a bit of currency, and then get the hell out of the airport. Who wants to surf the Internet after a 15-hour flight? And, most savvy travelers have their own unlocked cellphone with a Thai SIM card and call anywhere in the world. More wasted money by the Tourism Authority of Thailand.
That is the problem with the Tourism Authority of Thailand. They give to tourists what the out-dated Tourism Authority of Thailand thinks that foreign tourists want – but – the Tourism Authority of Thailand has a domestic tourist mindset. The Tourism Authority of Thailand does not know what Foreigners want because they never ask or do any market research.
The Tourism and Sports Ministry blames last month’s decline in international tourist arrivals on the massive flooding. Still, arrivals in the first 11 months of this year reached 17 million, up from 15.9 million in the same period last year.
More to blame are the inept branches of the Thai Government, primarily the Tourism Authority of Thailand. And, no one believes the numbers of tourist arrivals.
November arrivals alone dropped by 18.1% year-on-year to 1.21 million visitors.
That is the sugar-coated number – it is more like 40t%-50% with places like China and Hong Kong closer to 75%-90%.
The ministry expects 1.5 million foreign tourists will visit Thailand this month, raising the full-year total to 18.5 million, up by 20% from last year.
The Ministry will report whatever they want and no one will question it – so they will get their 18.5 million fictitious tourist arrivals.
The TAT projects a gradual improvement for the tourism industry next year.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand must have learned not to make wild predictions like in previous years that everyone could see didn’t come true.
Estimated international arrivals of 19.6 million and tourism revenue of 766 billion baht are forecast for 2012.
Estimate and forecast all you want Tourism Authority of Thailand. The reality is that about 1/2 those numbers are closer to the truth.
In terms of domestic tourism, the TAT expects to see 93.7 million trips and revenue of 453 billion baht.
More bullshit from the Tourism Authority of Thailand as they have absolutely no way to track domestic tourists or calculate how much they spend.
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