THE Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has teamed up with Etihad Airways to launch a competition for Italian travel consultants.
With the aim of boosting Italian arrivals during the upcoming winter season, the TAT/Etihad Travel Agent Contest will see Italian travel consultants compete in the number of air tickets and packages to Thailand sold for the period September 2014 to January 2015.
They will need to submit the figures alongside a short article about Thailand, and 10 best entries will be picked.
Winners will earn a fam trip to Phuket and Krabi in March next year, with accommodations and a gala dinner provided by Kata Group, TAT’s Thai partner for the competition.
TAT expects submissions from roughly 500 travel consultants.
Italy was Thailand’s eighth largest European source market last year, with 207,192 arrivals in 2013 or a 3.2 per cent increase year-on-year.
Between January and August this year, Thailand welcomed 145,456 Italian tourists for an increase of 6.7 per cent over the corresponding period in 2013. The NTO expects a total of 193,939 Italian visitors for 2014.
Last year, visitors from Italy spent a total of 394 million baht (US$12.1 billion) or 3,841 baht per day on average, and stayed an average of 16 days.
