THAILAND TO JOIN JAPANESE TRAVEL CONGRESS

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) will lead a Thai tourism delegation to Japan to attend one of the region’s most important travel marts and maintain Thailand’s ‘brand’ image in the critical Japanese market.

The Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) 2001 International Congress and Travel Mart is to be held between November 28-December 1 at Le Meridien Grand Pacific and the Tokyo Big Sight Exhibition Centre.

The Thai delegation of 11 leading tourism- related companies will be headed by TAT Board member Mr. Vichaya Vitheetham and TAT Deputy Governor for Marketing Mrs. Juthamas Siriwan.

A 72-square metre Thailand Stand will feature an information area, exhibits of Thai tourism products, a table-top area for trade visitor appointments and a display of Thai fruit and vegetable carving techniques.

In addition, TAT will host the ‘Be My Guest’ dinner reception on November 26 at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. The reception will include table-top business opportunities, video presentations, a cocktail party, dinner and Thai cultural show. A special press luncheon will also be held at the Le Meridien Grand Pacific Tokyo on November 29.

Japan is now Thailand’s largest source of visitors, totalling 1.2 million in 2000, a strong increase of 12.53% over 1999. They spent an average of 6.13 days and an average of 4,081.78 baht (or US$101.76) per person per day, which amounted to 29.97 billion baht in foreign exchange earnings.

During January-August 2001, Thailand received 835,115 Japanese visitors, up 7.02% over the same period of 2000. However, arrivals have fallen significantly in both September and October since the incident in the US and the conflict in Afghanistan.

TAT Deputy Governor for Marketing Juthamas Siriwan commented, “We are hoping to arrest this decline through our participation in JATA 2001. Our private tourism-related companies will work closely with their Japanese counterparts to promote a wide variety of special themed packages for Japanese visitors.”

These include Thai food, Thai products and handicrafts, honeymoon holidays, MICE events, golfing and diving.

Held biannually, the JATA convention 2001 will include the Congress of International Travel between November 28-30 and the Travel Trade Show between November 29- December 1.

This year’s event is expected to attract 900 seller organisations like airlines, hotels, national tourism organisations, hospitality- and tourism-related training institutes and media, all seeking to attract business from Japanese tour operators and travel agencies. It will also be attended by an estimated 30,000 trade visitors and 30,000 general public.

The last JATA Congress in 1999 attracted 21,250 visitors, including 16,953 buyers.