More big events needed to boost tourism, say promoters
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Leading event organisers are urging the government to focus on staging big events next year to restore foreign tourists' confidence while avoiding new political conflict that could lead to more mass demonstrations.
“Granting former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra a Thai passport, the government’s charter-changing plan and similar political issues are the biggest concerns among local event organisers because they might cause riots next year, as in 2010,” Sermkhun Kunawong, chief executive of CMO Group, said yesterday.
This year the tourism business suffered heavily from the floods, particularly from travel advisories issued by foreign governments against visiting the Kingdom during the crisis, he said.
This peak season, many travel agencies, hotels, airlines as well as the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) missed their targets.
TAT now believes that this year will see at least 18.3 million tourists generating Bt703 million in income, representing gains of 15 per cent and 18 per cent on last year.
However, those targets were lowered from 19.5 million arrivals and Bt746 billion in receipts.
Big shows should go hand in hand with existing cultural events to stimulate local spending and refresh Thailand’s image to be more attractive to foreign tourists next year, Sermkhun said.
Busaba Chirathivat, senior vice president for corporate communications at Central Retail Corporation, said organising the right marketing events next quarter would encourage people to open their purses and also create a good image of the country. This would bring back foreigners.
Kriangkrai Kanjanapokin, president of the Event Management Association, called on the government to focus on this industry and use this chance to promote the country as a world-class destination by hosting big events.
He noted that China had built up its brand image as well as lured foreign tourists by sponsoring events at the international level, such as World Expo 2010 in Shanghai and the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, and even on the regional scale by hosting the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou.
Such events could become a key message to communicate to the world as the best public relations strategy, Kriangkrai said.
