Brought to you by Thailand Travel Mart Plus
The Thailand Travel Mart Plus (TTM+), Thailand’s leading annual B2B travel show, which was held between 5-7 June, has ushered in a fresh era of business opportunities for buyers looking for new Thai destinations.
This year, the theme of the “New Shades of Emerging Destinations” is designed to encourage visitors to explore the new shades of Thailand in the 55 provinces identified as emerging destinations or the “hidden gems” throughout the country.
This is part of Tourism Authority of Thailand’s (TAT) strategy to promote provincial destinations which are already popular with domestic tourists and increasingly preferable by international visitors.
As a testament to the show’s success, the first day of business networking session saw a total of 339 buyers from 51 countries and 370 sellers, including 10 from the Greater Mekong Subregion countries.
For the first time, the buyers list includes 13 companies from Brazil along with new buyers from Chile, Argentina and Colombia.
First time buyers have also been invited from other new source-markets; such as, Lebanon, Latvia, Estonia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Slovakia, Ukraine and Israel.
The sellers list includes exhibitors, mainly from the Southern and Central regions of Thailand. In order to help buyers home in on the emerging destinations, the directory of sellers includes a special listing of the 20 exhibitors from this segment.
Srisuda Wanapinyosak, TAT Deputy Governor of International Marketing (Europe, Africa, Middle East and Americas) said that this year’s TTM Plus features some important changes in the trade show component to ensure enhanced business opportunities for both buyers and sellers.
She said: “We recognise that in this era, there are constant changes in everything from customer segments to technology and demographic profiles. The value of travel trade shows needs to be constantly refreshed and enhanced to justify the investment in time and money by both buyers and sellers.
We also have to marry the business objectives of the private sector with our national objectives to create jobs, reduce income disparities and better distribute visitors around the country. At the TTM Plus, all these objectives have been merged. It takes time and effort for emerging destination cities to be recognised and chosen by travellers, and this year’s TTM Plus has set the ball rolling.”
In 2018, the Thai tourism industry recorded a total of 38 million international arrivals, up by 7.54 per cent, generating an estimated US$62 billion in earnings, up by 9.63 per cent over 2017. This year, TAT has set a growth target of twelve percent in tourism revenue from the international market.
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Air New Zealand plans to launch five-times-weekly seasonal flights between Christchurch and Singapore this winter to appeal to the strong travel demand from South and South-east Asia.
Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines currently offer a 10-times-weekly service between Christchurch and Singapore. The seasonal flights will bring the frequency of the service to 15 times weekly in the December 1, 2019 to February 15, 2020 period.
The airline is also deploying the larger Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft on the route, which would increase capacity including in the premium economy category.
Cam Wallace, chief revenue officer, Air New Zealand, said: “We have seen strong demand for travel to New Zealand in the South and South-east Asia market, and we expect (the additional flights to) appeal to travellers in this region.
Singapore is likely to continue serving as Air New Zealand’s South-east Asia hub. On the airline’s strategy in growing outbound markets Indonesia and Malaysia, where it does not fly to directly, Wallace said: “Both are key growth markets for Air New Zealand in South-east Asia as we continue to see strong demand from travellers in the region. At this stage, both markets are being well served through our recently renewed alliance with Singapore Airlines, providing connectivity through Changi Airport.
“Capitalising on its strategic geographical location, excellent air connectivity and world-class infrastructure, we are seeing plenty of opportunities to grow our presence in the region through our operations in Singapore. We will continue to assess opportunities across markets and leverage our well-established partner network in the region to capture demand.”
Meanwhile, Christchurch is expected to grow in appeal, benefitting from new destination offerings and intensified sales and marketing efforts.
“Christchurch is building new experiences at a phenomenal rate, with new bars, restaurants and artworks going up quicker than anywhere else in New Zealand. This new seasonal Singapore-Christchurch service complements the MoU signed between the airline and Christchurch city agencies in September 2018 committing to exploring joint marketing, enhanced freight and passenger capacity, and signature events.”
“These changes reinforce Christchurch and the South Island as a priority market for Air New Zealand, as we seek to leverage the strength of both airlines to deliver increased connections into the domestic New Zealand network,” Wallace said.
The airline is also running a tactical campaign with Christchurch Airport to promote South Island.
The campaign will span offline and online media buys to increase the awareness of New Zealand and Air New Zealand to consumers in Singapore, targeting the family market and professionals, managers, executives and businessmen.
“We are also working with key agents to develop new itineraries for the South Island,” he said.