THAI Turns Crisis into Opportunity, says Virabongsa

Mr. Virabongsa Ramangura, Chairman and Acting President of Thai Airways International Public Company Limited recently chaired the official opening of the two-day TG Commercial Conference 2001, organized under the theme "Turning Crisis into Opportunity" on 14-15 December 2001, at the Miracle Grand Convention Hotel. Over 200 general managers worldwide and THAI senior executives from Revenue Planning & Management, Industry Relations & Commercial Support, Sales & Distribution, Inflight Customer Services and Cargo & Mail Commercial Departments attended the conference.

Mr. Tasnai Sudasna, Executive Vice President Commercial, said at the end of the conference that the Commercial Department was one of the revenue-generating functions for THAI as well as Thailand in the area of travel and tourism. The aviation industry came almost to a halt after the terrorist attack in the US, but the crisis had turned into opportunity for Thailand due to its neutral status and the fact that Thailand is perceived as safe by travelers. In addition, Thailand's location, natural resources, unique culture, friendliness of the people and particularly the "Thai smile" have also played a vital role in attracting overseas tourists to Thailand.

The Commercial Department has established various plans to bring more visitors to Thailand in year 2002 as follows:

- Discover Thailand Fares 2002: This program introduces special domestic air fares to overseas travelers coming into Thailand

- Royal Orchid Holidays Package: A top-quality holiday package tour for overseas travelers coming into Thailand

The conference allowed the executives and general managers to exchange ideas and suggest measures which may be applied to tackle the downturn in the industry worldwide. A 10 per cent drop in revenue from sales was expected next year. The Americas and East Asia bore most of the impact as a result of the September attacks. THAI has therefore established measures in response to the current demand in these markets as follows:

- Reduction in flight operations to the US from seven to six weekly. In January 2002 THAI will reduce its flight frequency to three weekly flights

- On 15 November, THAI terminated operations of seven off-line offices in the US and Canada namely Seattle, San Francisco, Dallas, Chicago Washington D.C., New York and Toronto

THAI has also set strategies for Asian markets to attract tourists to Thailand as follows:

- Honeymoon packages for tourists especially from Japan and Korea

- Flight inauguration to Chengdu, the People's Republic of China on 2 January 2002

According to the reports, markets in Indochina, Union of Myanmar, South Asia, Middle East countries, Southeast Asia, Australasia, Europe and Africa and Area Thailand, are the least affected when compared to other areas. Therefore, tourists were seen to shift their travel trend to these parts of the world. THAI plans to improve its flight time table, flight frequency and aircraft utilization in order to accommodate the travel demand in these areas appropriately.

THAI, together with other government and private establishments including the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), Thai Hotel Association (THA), Association of Domestic Travel and Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA), will organize a road show to promote Thai travel and tourism in foreign countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore as well as those in the Middle East.

THAI also supports the ASEAN Tourism Forum 2002, which will take place in January 2001, in Indonesia, and the Arabian Travel Mart 2002 (ATM), to be held in May 2002, in the U.A.E., to further promote the Thailand travel and tourism industry among overseas travelers.