The Thai tourism industry has just completed a major roadshow of three key Indian cities in a successful effort to further tap one of Thailand's fastest growing visitor source markets.

The Amazing Thailand Road Show to India 2007 covered Mumbai, New Delhi, and Bangalore between 3-7 September 2007. The delegation was led by Mrs. Juthaporn Rerngronasa, Deputy Governor for International Marketing and Mr. Prakit Piriyakiat, the TAT’s Director of ASEAN, South Asian and South Pacific markets.

Private sector representatives included 9 hotels, 5 travel agents, and 2 entertainment/ theme parks along with Thai Airways International, Nok Air, and TAT Southern Region 4 (Phuket, Phang Nga, Krabi).

The roadshow provided a useful opportunity to present to the Indian market the latest in Thai tourism products and services. There was a strong turnout of Indian travel agents, corporate houses, and media, roughly 200 each in Mumbai and New Delhi and 100 delegates in Bangalore.

Activities included cocktail receptions, cultural shows, and lucky draws. In New Delhi, H.E. Mr. Poldej Vorachat, Thai Ambassador in India attended the function and addressed the delegates.

Mrs Juthaporn also gave a number of interviews to local media in Mumbai and New Delhi to update them about the Thai tourism developments, new products, and the TAT marketing plan for the Indian market.

Thai sellers took the opportunity to present their tour packages, accommodation facilities, and other services to the Indian buyers in each city. During the discussions, tentative bookings were also made and contracts signed.

The most popular tour packages for the Indian market are Bangkok — Pattaya, Chiang Mai and Phuket, but under destinations such as Cha-am, Hua Hin are also finding favour, along with entertainment and theme parks such as Safari World and Phuket Fantasy for the family market.

Wedding packages are becoming increasingly popular. Most Indian visitors also like to have a lot of free time for shopping.

India is the most important source of visitor arrivals for Thailand in South Asia. In 2006, Indian visitors to Thailand totalled 429,732, up 21.82% over 2005. Between January–June 2007, Indian visitors (by nationality) totalled 264,555, up 14.06% over the same period of 2006.

Indian citizens can obtain a visa-on-arrival at all international airports in Thailand and stay for up to 15 days.

There has been rapid growth in aviation access. Currently, there are 111 direct weekly services between Bangkok and major Indian cities including Delhi (27), Kolkata (26), Mumbai (29), Gaya (1), Bangalore (14), Gauhati (1), Hyderabad (3), Madras/Chennai 8), and Nagpur (2) by Thai Airways International, Indian Airlines, Air India, Cathay Pacific Airways, Royal Bhutan Airlines, and Jet Airways.

This year, Indian visitor arrivals are expected to total 500,000 and generate 14,600 million baht in foreign exchange revenue.

Source : http://www.tatnews.org/tat_release/detail.aspωid=3492