THAILAND TRAVEL MART 2001 TO BOOST TOURISM SMEs

The Thailand Travel Mart 2001, the kingdom’s annual trade show to be held between September 16- 20, 2001, in Pattaya, will provide a major opportunity for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to showcase their products and services to a broad range of international buyers.

While globalisation is very much in vogue, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is using the TTM 2001 to ensure that SMEs in the kingdom as well as the neighbouring Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) countries maintain adequate exposure for the ‘localisation’ element.

The SMEs will be among dozens of tourism products and services on prominent display at the TTM 2001, an event that has been designed to help maintain the strong flow of visitors to Thailand in 2002 and beyond.

Jointly organised by TAT, Thai Airways International, Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA), and the Thai Hotels Association (THA), the event will be held at the Pattaya Exhibition and Convention Hall (PEACH), the first time outside Bangkok.

The five-day event will help bolster Thailand's potential as a premier destination in its own right and strengthen its role as a major distribution hub for tourism to Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam and China’s Yunnan province.

TAT Governor Mr. Pradech Phayakvichien commented, “The exposure for the SMEs is a very important part of the TTM 2001. Many SMEs in Thailand and the Mekong region cannot afford to market abroad, so this is a very cost-effective forum for them to make new contacts and get some business.”

He added, “I am confident that TTM 2001 will prove to be a rewarding experience for both sellers and buyers, especially those that we have invited from emerging markets.”

As of August 17 2001, registrations had been received from 229 exhibiting companies in Thailand and the GMS area, and 189 buyers from 40 countries in Asia, Oceania, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas.

The buyers have been carefully selected by a working group of members from various sectors of the Thai tourism industry. Many are new buyers, who do not presently operate tour programmes to this part of the world.

The sellers include national tourism organisations, entertainment complexes, hotels and resorts, tour operators, entertainment complexes as well as health and spa facilities.

Relocating the event from Bangkok to Pattaya is intended to help expose buyers to both new and established products in the entire Eastern Seaboard region, which is now linked to Bangkok via an excellent highway network.

The event’s venue, PEACH, is Thailand’s newest US$38 million convention and exhibition centre. Located only 90-minutes drive from Bangkok, it is operated by the Royal Cliff Beach Resort and consists of three ballrooms and 20 meeting rooms capable of handling functions ranging from 50 to 5,800 persons.

Governor Pradech said, “This will also help showcase Thailand's provincial convention and exhibition facilities, which are also in need of promotion as part of our efforts to diversify job creation and income generation outside the main urban areas of the country.”

The event will include on-site business sessions, complimentary tours organised by ATTA, a friendship golf tournament by Travel Trade Gazette (TTG) Asia, TAT and Laem Chabang International Country Club as well as a number of social functions hosted by TTG, THA, Pattaya City and TAT.

In 2000, visitor arrivals to Thailand totalled 9,508,623, up 10.82% over 1999. This growing trend continues in 2001. During January-June 2001, international visitors totalled 5,003,691, an increase of 7.86% over the same period of 2000.

According to the Agency for Coordinating Mekong Tourism Activities (AMTA), the number of tourist arrivals to the GMS member countries grew by about 11% in 2000 to over 14 million.