Has the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Already Missed the Chinese Boat?

An article in the Bangkok Post, Homing in on the mainland market,talks about the HUGE market of Chinese travelers over the next 10 years, but has the Tourism Authority of Thailand done its homework on this potential windfall?  I think not.

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The Tourism Authority of Thailand has a hard enough time posting on their Facebook page in English, especially the smaller Tourism Authority of Thailand satellites, like Khon Kaen.  It is like pulling teeth trying to get a post translated or a question answered.

And, now, the Tourism Authority of Thailand will have to deal with the Chinese language, like it or not.

It is fairly easy for most foreigners to understand English, even those in Europe, but most Chinese from mainland China do not speak English.  And, unless the Tourism Authority of Thailand gets up to speed and learns Chinese, or hires some (many) folks that can read, write, and speak the language, this is sure to fail.

Another problem is that staff at hotels below 5 star have limited English capability.  Hotel staff that are not able to communicate with their guests, will be worthless.  The Tourism Authority of Thailand should work with the local hotel staff and all should get some Chinese language instruction.

The other thing that needs to be done, is a marketing plan for Mainland China needs to be drawn up.  Even though the Tourism Authority of Thailand should know their foreign market, it is clear that since they don’t know how to market to America and Europe, they will surely fail trying to wing it with China.

I have not been to Mainland China, but I have been to Taiwan numerous times, and I lived in Hawaii for 25 years and have observed many Asian travelers.  The Tourism Authority of Thailand doesn’t have a clue on what the Chinese traveler is looking for or how to take care of their needs.

Chinese, and most other Asian travelers, tend to travel in groups.  They also tend to stay in areas where the hotel is owned by someone from their country, and their food is readily available.  Marketing to the Chinese is not at all similar to marketing to those from America or Europe or Thailand.  I hope that there is a plan on the drawing board for the Tourism Authority of Thailand or they will screw this up big time.  They may get some tourists from China here, but if they are dissatisfied, word will spread quickly.

There are already complaints that hotel booking sites are not in Chinese and are difficult to navigate.

Here is the key from the article where the Tourism Authority of Thailand, and the rest of Thailand will fall flat on its face:

However, the Chinese travellers also had their specific needs, desperately seeking brands and services they can trust, according to the report.

Considering that Thailand is the Land of Scams, with fake watches, handbags, clothes, phones, and everything else, and rip-offs left and right with jewelry, ATMs, jet skis, motorcycles, etc., the Chinese will be hard pressed to find anything at all in the entire country that they can trust.

This is from a major report, conduct by the Boston Consulting Group, where they interviewed Chinese travelers:

Only a handful of companies understood or responded to their requirements. For example, few hotels offer special services for Chinese in their language, but premium-priced travel packages lack differentiation and interest. Online travel planning was unnecessarily complex for Chinese travellers, according to the report.

Has anyone in the Thai Government considered making signs in Chinese?  How about some brochures or web sites in the Chinese language?   The Tourism Authority of Thailand and the rest of the Thai Government could at least butcher the Chinese language like they do English.

Once again, the Tourism Authority of Thailand doesn’t have a clue.  The Prime Minister of Thailand wants the Tourism Authority of Thailand to go after quality tourists in Russia, Indonesia, and South Africa.  He doesn’t have a clue either.

THE market to go after is China, but I am afraid that the Tourism Authority of Thailand will continue to go after the local Thai market and disregard the foreign market which is where the money is.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand even launched another Facebook page – Sukjai Thailand – so far, totally in the Thai language showing that TAT really doesn’t give a shit about foreign tourists.

By the same token, there was an article in The Nation, Govt urged to keep focus on tourism restoration of promotional measures, practically begging the Thai government to do something to get foreign tourists to Thailand from now until October – low season.

If the Tourism Authority of Thailand, the Thai Government, and the Thai hotels had been prepared, this would have been the perfect opportunity to lure Chinese travelers to Thailand.

But, I have yet to see any special offers for those living in Mainland China and I cannot find a TAT China Facebook page.  I am not even sure if there is a Tourism Authority of Thailand office in China.

A private organization in Thailand, The Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT), seems to be able to see through the fog of bullshit that the Thai government continues to dish out.  They are in the trenches and actually know that tourism in Thailand is continuing to drop despite the fictitious numbers that the Tourism Authority of Thailand continues to post.

Thailand is already hurting for tourists from the past two years of political unrest.  Toss into the mix the problems in Japan, earthquakes in New Zealand, political turbulence in the Middle East, and the Tourism Authority of Thailand will never hit their predicted number of tourists this year.  Even though, they will lie and say they exceeded their forecast.

The Thai government should be doing everything in its power to attract Chinese travelers to Thailand and also do all it can to prepare the hotel industry to receive these guests. But, it won’t.  Everything will be status quo and Thailand will miss out on a great opportunity to make a ton of money over the next 10 to 20 years.

It would take a lot of doing – getting rid of the scam artists in Bangkok, Pattaya, and Phuket, get hotel staff trained in Chinese, create a business plan and do some market research to determine the wants and needs of the Chinese travelers.  It would be worth it, but I can foresee the Thai government and business folks doing absolutely nothing.

If the Tourism Authority of Thailand had its shit together, this would be a piece of cake, but they have no idea how to promote to foreign markets and continue to be satisfied getting local Thais from the south to go north and north to go south.

Tags: china chinese hotel prime minister TAT tourism authority of thailand traveler