People walking in Harajuku Station, Tokyo, Japan. Credit: 123rf
THAILAND will be making a stronger pitch for Japanese female tourists, according to Yuthasak Supasorn, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), highlighting the major decline in arrivals from Japan since the Ratchaprasong bombing.
Inbound traffic from Japan has dropped 30 per cent since the incident in August and numbers have not rebounded, he added.
Yuthasak also believes that TAT has to change its strategy to attract more women travellers from Japan. Of the current one million Japanese visitors to Thailand each year, 70 per cent are men while 70 per cent of Japanese visitors to neighboring Vietnam are women, lured by the spa stays and beauty products there, he pointed out.
“Thailand can offer that to Japanese women too, so why don’t they want to come to Thailand? I think we have to develop (this market segment),” he said.
This will be achieved via targeted marketing through social media and women’s magazines, riding on the momentum from TAT’s Ladies Journey campaign launched at the Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) Tourism Expo last month.
“We have to provide more information. We have better quality products. Secondly, we have to improve our image,” said Yuthasak, arguing it was necessary for Thailand to be seen as a value destination.
