Stories tagged with promotion
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Bangkok to Promote Itself as Hot Tourism Destination
Following its formal recognition as the World’s Best City, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) will open a global campaign to promote itself as a hot travel destination. Throughout the rest of 2008 until December 2009, the city will boost development at local attractions.
The new promotion was announced by Apirak Kosayodhin, the governor of Bangkok. He said that all the city’s tourism sites would get a facelift with an emphasis on its 225-year history. Bangkok has many attributes which will appeal to foreign visitors, Apirak contends, including its shopping venues, excellent value, and friendly locals.
The new campaign comes as a result of a reader survey by the US-based magazine Travel & Leisure which voted Bangkok the world’s best city. "The award is a testament to City Hall's hard work," Apirak said, in reference to the BMA’s ongoing efforts to promote Bangkok’s five charms: its culture, the river, shopping, nightlife and food.
Therdchai Choibamroong of the Thailand Research Fund believes that Bangkok will see a big influx of tourists over the next year once the issue hits the stands. Travel & Leisure sells more than 900,000 copies each month.
Posted by: Andrew on 03 Aug 2008, 14:29 -
TAT wants tourists to tout Thailand
The Tourism Authority of Thailand has launched an online campaign to garner more interest in travel to the Kingdom. TAT and its ‘Amazing Thailand’ campaign are putting 200,000 baht up for grabs to tourists who upload their most amazing holiday videos of recent trips to Thailand to http://amazingexperience.tourismthailand.org. If photography is more your thing, the ‘Thailand Portfolio Project’ focuses on photos taken by tourists and journalists alike that relate to the Amazing Thailand theme.
The Deputy Governor for TAT’s marketing Communications Mr. Suraphon Svetasreni cites the common practice of tourists exchanging photos and video online that already exists as enough reason to take it one step further and promote Thailand using the recorded memories of regular people.
As more and more tourists share their personal videos and photos on websites like YouTube an d Flickr, Svetasreni comments, “Many of these photos and video clips are really amazing and they help to inspire other people to visit those destinations. TAT has realized the massive potential that this channel provides for e-marketing, so it has developed these two schemes to build stronger relationships with the web-communities."
Posted by: DaveB on 08 May 2008, 11:41 -
Songkran set for 12-16 April
This year's Songkran water festival will commence on Saturday April 12th and continue until Tuesday 15th, as gazetted by the Government. Since it falls over a weekend, a further holiday has been added on the 16th, although banks will open on this day.
Songkran is the busiest of Thailand's festivals and is a time when many Thais travel home to visit their families, making travel in the Kingdom crowded. Tourists are advised to make their plans in advance or avoid travelling during this period, especially on highways when accident rates increase.
Traditionally the splashing associated with Songkran starts several days in advance of the official dates (which according to the lunar calendar should commence on Sunday the 13th this year), therefore the whole country descends into an anarchic-like water fight for almost a week. Traffic jams ensue in the cities, and those travelling by motorbike find themselves drenched by roadside revellers.
Visitors who wish to avoid the water fights are advised to stay within the grounds of their hotel, take day trips away from the busy areas or travel by taxi. But the vast majority enter into the spirit of fun and join locals in the world's biggest water fight. The centre of urban areas, or locations near water are most populoar and lively and each city has a focal point for fun. In Chiang Mai - considered the best place to experience Songkran - the action is all around the moat, in Bangkok it can be found on the Khao San Road, while Pattaya's walking street is the 'wet' venue. In Phuket, Patong beachfront is perhaps the most popular, while other busy beach areas will also be active.
The first official day, Sunday, is likely to be the best day to participate, as the festival wears on people become tired and the turnout and atmosphere of the third day, Tuesday, is likely to be less lively. These are usually pre-occupied with the procession, while many Thai perform their traditional duties on these days. However, there is always a busy itinerary of events throughout the festival, taking place at local civic centres and temples, including sand castle building, parades, beauty pageants and more. Read your local press for more details.
Posted by: Andrew on 02 Apr 2008, 09:15 -
Lofty tourism income target for 2008
Under the newly elected government, the Tourism and Sports Ministry has set an ambitious target of Bt800 billion for tourism revenue, up from Bt490 billion in 2007.
Minister Weerasak Kowsurat made the proposal at the first meeting between travel agencies and the private sector recently. The original target was 547 billion, a reasonable 10% increase but the minister, in line with the ambitious economic growth projections of the Samak led government, has upped it to a whopping 90% increase.
Weerasak said he would search for more "quality" tourists as they could spend more money while staying. He did not elaborate how this was achievable however, given that tourism as a luxury item would be the first item to be cut from people’s spending during an economic slowdown.
TAT governor Phornsiri Manoharn, plans to organise 28 foreign roadshows and join 150 trade shows this year to promote Thailand as a destination, especially in emerging new markets like Eastern Europe.
From June 6-8, the TAT is scheduled to join the International India Fair to promote wedding and honeymoon trips to Thailand. The TAT also hopes to attract up-to 520,000 Indians this year.
But big question marks remain. Despite a return to democratic rule political instability still exists and this might affect confidence in the country during 2008. Then there is the gradually strengthening baht which is making Thailand a less value-for-money destination. This is coupled with a looming recession in the US, likely to affect inbound numbers from North America.
Other issues, such as poor law enforcement and news of murders involving policemen, continuing incompetence in managing the new Suvarnabhumi airport and environmental hazards such as burning in the Northern provinces during dry season, continue to hamper efforts to promote tourism here.
The council also called on the ministry to set a target for inbound tourism revenue to reach Bt1 trillion in the next four years.
Posted by: Andrew on 06 Mar 2008, 12:02 -
MAS Launches "Let's Fly Malaysia" Promotion
Malaysia Airlines has announce a major promotion with some great deals on regional travel. Highlights include Peninisular Malaysia fares starting at just RM1, and flights to ASEAN destinations starting at RM10 for flights between Sept 3 and 30 2007.
The Edge Daily has an overview of the various promotions, and more details can be found on the official site. Tickets can be purchased online at www.malaysiaairlines.com.
Posted by: Toony on 19 Jun 2007, 13:31