Once again, the Tourism Authority of Thailand is targeting the wrong market in a feeble attempt to win tourists’ confidence.

What is the Tourism Authority of Thailand doing?  They are marketing to local Thais in Bangkok when the focus should be on foreign tourists.

Ayutthaya

The Master Plan from the Tourism Authority of Thailand to save tourism after the floods – sidewalk sale!

From The Nation, Central calls for major govt events: ‘Right time for postflood marketing’ – shows the level of ineptitude at the Tourism Authority of Thailand and the cluelessness of Thai business owners for believing in TAT.

For example, yesterday CRC joined forces with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to organise street fairs and sidewalk sales called “Ploenchit Happiness’ on Bangkok’s Ploenchit Road on December 18. The event will have 120 booths with a number of companies and individual operators selling merchandises from 4pm to 10pm.

WOW!  Selling crap on the street at a one-day sale.  I can see the millions of foreign tourists lining up to buy their airline tickets for a holiday in Thailand!!!  Idiocy.  This will only benefit a few Bangkokians and do absolutely nothing for foreign tourist arrivals. Same old, same old from the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Corporates are to pay Bt20,000 for a booth, while individual operators will pay about Bt5,000-Bt8,000 per booth. There will be entertainment programmes with performances by famous artists during the event.

Outrageous prices for the stalls too.  Wonder whose pockets the money will go in – Tourism Authority of Thailand?

“Revenue from booth rental and sales during the event will be donated to the Thai Red Cross Society to aid flood victims,” Busaba said.

Big mistake as I have not seen the Thai Red Cross do anything during the floods other than receive big checks.  My buddy Tom at Isaan-Live has traveled all over Isaan during the 3 months of floods and has never seen one Red Cross worker helping the Isaan people.  Haven’t seen the Tourism Authority of Thailand do much but pose for photo ops.

Additionally, Vilaiwan Twichasri, TAT deputy governor for tourism products and business, said the fair would be another event that could help rebuild the confidence of both foreign and local tourists.

Dream on Khun Vilaiwan.  This will do absolutely nothing to rebuild confidence.  Maybe waiting until the floods have completely receded would help.  But, the Tourism Authority of Thailand won’t wait.

In a similar article at TTR Weekly, Tourism needs confidence fix, the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) is as clueless as the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Meanwhile, a representative of the tourism industry in the FTI council, Thanet Vorasarun, said international arrivals this year would reach 18.5 million well off the forecast of 19.5 million.

More like 8-9 million if using real numbers. Oops – forgot it was the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Despite efforts to spin a  strong PR message that all other destinations, apart from Bangkok, were safe and open to visitors, tourists didn’t buy the argument preferring to postpone trips until the flood threat receded. Airlines are now struggling to keep flights schedules this month as cabin factors drop. Prior to the flood flights to Bangkok from Europe were packed but are now operating with an unusually high level of empty seats in economy class. THAI has attempted to consolidate some flights to lessen the impact on its fourth quarter results.

Spin is correct – sugar coated is better.  And, it was not a strong PR message from the Tourism Authority of Thailand.  It was a feeble attempt to cover up what was really happening in Thailand by giving out late, inaccurate, incorrect, and false information at the TATnews web site.  Today is 8 December and the latest “situation update” from the Tourism Authority of Thailand is from 30 November.  And, despite the ruins at Ayutthaya still being assessed and billions of baht in damages yet to be repaired, the Tourism Authority of Thailand is already promoting the area claiming it is completely open for tourists.

Thai Airlines did more that consolidate flights – they cancelled 500 flights in November due to lack of tourists coming to Thailand.  Thailand will have to wait until sometime in 2012 and hope that tourists stop going elsewhere instead of visiting the Land of Floods.  Up to the Tourism Authority of Thailand to woo them back – HAHAHAHA.

“Most districts in Bangkok are dry and safe. So, we want the government to promote the tourism industry and boost the confidence of foreign travellers,” Mr Thanet said.

But, everyone has seen the almost English online news media and doesn’t trust the Thai Government or the Tourism Authority of Thailand in anything it says since for the past 2-3 months all we have seen are contradictory statements, predictions that were totally wrong, and continued flood waters in Bangkok that won’t be gone until New Years (if that prediction comes true).

The problem for promoters is that most tourists prefer to avoid countries suffering any kind of disaster, but once it is clear that Thailand has dealt with the threat then bookings should resume quickly, possibly during the last week of December heading into the New Year.

Thailand has made a farce out of dealing with the threat.  The Thai Government and the Tourism Authority of Thailand only reacted when the waters were lapping at their Burberry Boots.  They should have seen it coming with heavy rains in the North and Northeast for two months prior.  Foreigners witnessed the ineptitude of the Thai Government and the Tourism Authority of Thailand and have no faith that there will be no outbreaks of disease.

“The tourism industry does not need infrastructure repairs or reconstruction. It just needs the government to help restore the confidence of foreign investors,” he said.

This guy is really stupid.  Of course the tourism industry needs infrastructure repairs – look at Ayutthaya.  Look at the damage at the hotels in Bangkok and the rest of flood-hit Thailand.  What other tourist areas were also damaged?  The Grand Palace?  What roads will need major repair? Ask the Tourism Authority of Thailand – they have billions of baht to waste.

The article goes off on a different tangent here:

This view contradicts the widely held belief that the floods were caused by an ineptitude of various governments over decades and a refusal to establish a sustainable water management plan, or build an infrastructure to secure the capital from flood threats or rising sea levels in the long-term.

I agree with the above comments that the Thai Government and the Tourism Authority of Thailand caused more damage than Mother Nature.  But, where it came from in the article is beyond me.

Due to the lack of suitable water management infrastructure,  the economy was brought to its knees by the three-month long flood. That has prompted the view that the government must now go back to the beginning and build infrastructure possibly diverting substantial budgets that would have gone to promoting tourism under different circumstances.

The problem is that the Thai Government will form committees, hold meetings, allocate funds, and then do nothing since they know it won’t happen again for another 50 years and they will no longer be in office.  The Tourism Authority of Thailand will have numerous venues to blame for a drop in tourism (though they will probably just say it fell a little in November and will come roaring back in December – don’t believe either).

And, then the article is closed off with numbers from the Thai Government and the Tourism Authority of Thailand that no one checks and everyone is supposed to believe.

Last year, there Thailand welcomed 15,936,400 tourist arrivals generating Bt592,794.09 million in revenue, up 12.63% from 14,149,841 visits earning Bt510,255.05 million in 2009, according to Ministry of Tourism and Sports.

I just checked the Department of Tourism web site and the numbers for November are not yet posted.  They should be interesting since in October the Department of Tourism, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports,and the Tourism Authority of Thailand claimed that tourism was up over October 2010.

More fabrications from the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Tourism Authority Of Thailand Targeting the Wrong Market – Again is a post from: Khon Kaen

Incoming search terms:

• flood in thailand 2011
• ploenchit happiness
• ayutthaya-floods-2011
• “ploenchit happiness”

Went to the Khon Kaen Central Plaza yesterday to have lunch with a buddy of mine.  I have been helping him with his KKETP web site and he wanted to treat me to lunch. KKETP (Khon Kaen Education and Travel Programs) is a new  concept for the Isaan region and a great opportunity for gap year students.  It is just starting out, but I am sure it will be a success due to the devoted people running it.

Anyhow, back to Central Plaza.

Central Plaza Events

Ronald McDonald at Central Plaza

I got there a little early and walked around taking pictures (breaking the law) and enjoying the eye candy.  I met up with Scott at the Sante Fe restaurant and was treated to Cordon Bleu with cheesy toast and a good size salad.  All for 99 Baht.  I also got some hash browns on the side.

Santa Fe Restaurant

Scott had to go back to work so I went downstairs to Tops to do some grocery shopping.  Imported food prices are sky high but I just had to get some Parmesan cheese, Polish sausage, and peanut butter and jelly – a little bit of home.  The Kraft Parmesan cheese was a bit pricey (almost $14 US dollars) – so I settled for a local Thai brand.

Kraft Parmesan Cheese

I was looking for some sausages and came across one pack that I will never buy.  Not sure what the German maker was thinking.  I did manage to pick up some Polish sausage and smoked sausage.

Beat Meat and Sausage

Today, I was hunting for a web site template for some other sites that I am working on and came across this one for WordPress (along with 2 others).  I settled on this template and then further decided to go with black (there are 2 choices – white or black).

I haven’t decided on whether to keep the comment numbers next to the posts or not.  I haven’t played around with it enough to know where to make the change – will see if I get any comments on the new layout – that will decide it.

Central Plaza + New Design is a post from: Khon Kaen

Here are some more ads from Tesco Lotus so that you can see what real prices are.

For those not familiar with Thailand, Tesco Lotus is similar to a WalMart and you can get rough prices in US dollars by dividing by 32.

Thailand Cost of Living 2 is a post from: Khon Kaen