The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is strengthening Thailand’s presence as the preferred tourist destination among Middle East travellers to drive interest in returning to Thailand in the post COVID-19 situation. This has come about through the recent participation in the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2022, latest partnerships with Qatar Airways and Almosafer – one of the region’s top three largest online travel agents, and a number of marketing and promotional activities.
TAT led a Thai delegation that included 18 hotels, three hospitals, two travel agencies and one theme park to participate in the ATM 2022, held on 9-12 May, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Across the four-day event, the Thai delegation had on average 128 business appointments each, or over 3,000 sessions combined. This is expected to boost tourism from the Middle East market to Thailand, and generate about one billion Baht income for 2022.
Mr. Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya, TAT Deputy Governor for International Marketing – Europe, Africa, Middle East and Americas, said, “The interest in returning to Thailand is on the rise, and this is certainly a sign that the market was recovering quickly after the COVID-19 situation. Thailand’s focus at the ATM 2022 was on doing business with the upper market segment, such as families, medical treatment groups, and the new sector of women travelling on their own for shopping, beauty treatments, and other such activities.”
At the ATM 2022, TAT cooperated with Qatar Airways in launching a special sales promotion aimed at boosting travel to Thailand from mid-May to June 2022, among travellers from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait. The two parties were also in talks on partnering in a global campaign to encourage travellers from Europe attending the 2022 FIFA World Cup from 21 November-18 December to visit Thailand after the competition. A memorandum of cooperation on this is expected to be signed in October.
Meanwhile at the ATM 2022, TAT introduced a tourist promotion campaign in cooperation with the Dubai Police Privilege Card or Esaad Card, a loyalty programme for government employees under the Dubai Police. Special discounts on goods and services at over 300 locations in Thailand – predominantly hotels, hospitals, spas, department stores, and tourist attractions – will be on offer to 240,000 Esaad cardholders.
