The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) welcomed delegates and media representatives to a series of personalised, market-specific briefings on the Thai tourism industry at Thailand Travel Mart Plus (TTM+) 2018.
With the annual travel trade event taking place this year at the Ocean Marina Pattaya, many of briefings were held yesterday aboard three deluxe, multi-million dollar yachts which were moored at the Marina.
Attendees had the chance to get a first-hand look at the interiors of these exclusive yachts ? which are available for daily or overnight cruises and charters for well-heeled clientele ? and discuss the latest news and big issues within the travel industry with the tourism authority?s regional directors.
The personalised briefings were in addition to the general briefing given at the start of the three-day TTM+2018.
Mr. Tanes Petsuwan, deputy governor for marketing communications at TAT, said: ?Media briefings are a very important component of the TTM+ because they allow both the foreign and local media to better understand the context of our marketing strategies and also expose them to the fascinating new products and attractions emerging all over Thailand. As this is the first time we are holding the TTM at a marina, we thought it would be a good idea to also hold some of the briefings on the yachts. This certainly gave a new twist to the content of the briefings themselves. All travel trade shows are facing major changes in the way they are structured and targeted. This year, we shifted the focus for the first time to a niche-market theme, ?Million Shades of Romance,? so it was decided to shift the focus of the media briefings accordingly, too.
?We were asked everything from the treatment of animals to new infrastructure projects to garbage disposal to opening up of secondary cities and new airline connections. There is no doubt a sea of change occurring in the way travel journalists report on developments, and not just from a marketing angle. These are all clearly issues of importance to the travel and tourism industry at large. We will be taking cognisance of them in our annual marketing planning meetings for 2019 due to be held in early July.?
