The Tourism Authority of Thailand – Mumbai office has intensified its marketing initiatives in Sri Lanka in order to garner a larger share of the growing outbound segment from the country.
The TAT Mumbai office recently embarked on the first of its planned marketing initiatives by collaborating with Cathay Pacific airlines for a study tour comprising seven key Sri Lankan travel trade members who traveled to Thailand from the 4th to the 8th of August 2010. The delegation led by Ms. Suladda Sarutilavan, Deputy Director, Tourism Authority of Thailand Mumbai and Mrs. Sonalee Vaz, TAT Mumbai representative along with a Cathay Pacific representative created an itinerary that provided the participating members with an opportunity to discover new places of interest that cater to MICE, FIT leisure, wedding and luxury segments.
The study tour delegation visited the regions of Ko Chang, Chanthaburi, Rayong, Pattaya and culminated in Bangkok. The delegation also participated in a buyer-seller workshop with participating Pattaya based hoteliers, which further enhances the marketing activities aimed at the MICE and leisure segments.
Commenting on the initiative, Ms. Suladda Sarutilavan, Deputy Director TAT Mumbai said, “We have seen a healthy growth rate of 15% for 2009 over 2008 with over 45, 000 Sri Lankan nationals visiting Thailand. This is in addition to the expatriate community that also travels to Thailand after exposure to our marketing initiatives. The first five months of 2010 has provided a growth rate of 6% over the corresponding year 2009.”
Mrs. Sonalee Vaz, TAT Mumbai representative further added, “With the situation in Sri Lanka having returned to peace and normalcy, we intend to further enhance our activities as part of the focus for this region. We will intensify our communication efforts through the dissemination of an electronic newsletter in order to feed the local travel trade community with information on new products and packages in Thailand or by the local Thai hospitality industry.”
The fun and entertaining highlight of this visit was the excitement of a unique attraction called a Flight of the Gibbon at the Khao Kaew open zoo, which proved a tremendous success amongst the visiting Sri Lankan delegation.
