The second Super World Trip BOSS Live livestream session in Thailand in as many months, hosted from Phuket by leading online travel agency Trip.com yesterday in collaboration with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and the Ministry of Tourism & Sports, saw travellers snap up enticing deals for flights, accommodation, tours and attractions in Thailand, with the session grossing GMV of more than THB150 million.
Hosted by Trip.com Group Vice President Ms Sun Tianxu, the livestream session saw a strong focus on deals centred around driving tourism for the upcoming Songkran Festival in April, as part of the partnership with TAT to achieve its target of attracting 8 million international visitors to Thailand in 2024. Some of the most hotly-anticipated deals included one for the livestream venue, Katathani Phuket Beach Resort, where a room with daily breakfast and massages for two were going for THB3,500 – a discount of more than 70% off the usual rate.
To truly give viewers a taste of Thailand’s beauty, Ms Sun hosted the session outdoors, allowing them to take in the grandeur of the Katathani’s exclusive beachfront location in the midst of the Andaman Sea.
Ms Sun said: “Yesterday’s Super World Trip BOSS Live session was one of the most memorable livestreams I’ve had the privilege of hosting. Not only was I able to showcase how stunning Thailand is, but I was also able to share many deals with our viewers to let them come and experience it for themselves in the coming weeks and months. The enthusiasm they showed was infectious, which helped us to exceed targets with the GMV of THB150 million that was achieved.”
The “Super World Trip” series of livestreams was launched by Trip.com Group at the start of 2023, kicking off in Thailand before making other stops in markets such as Tokyo and Hong Kong. They have been very popular, generating notable inbound travel demand for each market it has made a stop in. The “Super World Trip” series is part of the Group’s BOSS Live livestream sessions, an initiative led by co-founder and Executive Chairman James Liang which began in 2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The sessions have generated a cumulative transaction volume of more than USD1.48 billion and attracted a total audience of over 1 billion global viewers.
One of the most popular markets for Trip.com Group users, Thailand’s move to permanently offer Chinese tourists visa-free travel is expected to spur Thailand-inbound tourism this year. According to government statistics, Thailand welcomed a total of 3,519,735 Chinese tourists in 2023, while 811,853 Chinese tourists visited the Kingdom from 1 January to 11 February 2024 alone. Prior to the pandemic, China was the largest source of travellers to Thailand, a crown it looks set to recapture this year as Trip.com Group works with the TAT to bring more Chinese tourists to the Land of Smiles.
