TAT Promotes Thailand at Goa Programme

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) held a two-day training programme for Indian travel agents last month in Goa, India.

Many are predicting a shift in the travel climate as high-end, luxury travel becomes a more important segment of the market. An indicator of this is the mass market-directed Tourism Authority of Thailand aiming for an audience of high-end travelers. Strategically located between the two burgeoning superpowers, India and China, Thailand has its eyes on a huge market.

As part of the TAT initiative to promote Thailand as an up-market destination and to create a solid base of partners in the travel trade, the tourism agency conducted a two-day workshop for Indian travel agents in Goa, making India and the US the only two countries where this has occurred. The initiative is called the Amazing Thailand Champion Agents Program.

Speaking about the programme, Prakit Piriyakiet, executive director for the South Asia & South Pacific Region of the TAT, remarked: "The programme is designed to educate travel trade members on our up-market products. The workshop gave them an opportunity to interact with senior TAT representatives from Bangkok and co-participating hotels and tourism attractions from Thailand." This recent workshop involved 40 trade member participants from across India.

The US was the first country chosen for the programme, followed by India. Expansion to additional countries is still under consideration. Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya, the director of the TAT, commented: "I am not aware of plans by other TAT offices to organise a similar activity. However, directors of our offices in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur were also present in Goa as observers and they will probably do similar things in their respective regions. So you can say that Goa was a successful pilot project that TAT can implement in other parts of the world."