Bangkok (VNA) –A Thai minister has come up with a series of marketing plans aimed at luringforeign visitors and speeding up the tourism industry’s rebound, the local mediareported on September 14.
Tourism and Sports Minister PhiphatRatchakitprakarn is planning to promote tourism in the CLMV region – including Cambodia,Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam – by offering the Spirit Road andMeditation programme.
Otheridea of theplans is to offer incentives and deals for Chinese visitors from the same clansor with the same surnames as Thai-Chinese people.
Phiphat said theprogramme is like “inviting relatives you didn't know about” from the mainland China to visit. His ministry will initially promote the plan in Guangzhou insouthern China, a region from which many Thai-Chinese families originate.
He noted the ministry will work with the United Chinese Clans Association of Thailandand the Tourism Authority of Thailand to implement the plan. The targets arepremium Chinese tourists with high spending power who take longer trips of14-15 days.
The campaign will betabled for cabinet consideration soon, he added.
In the first eightmonths of this year, foreign arrivals to Thailand grew by 2.6 percent to 26.5 million people, contributing 1.29 trillion THB in tourism revenue, up3 percent. Domestic tourism also performed fairly, increasing by 1.3 percent to 104 million trips.