Avis sets sights on tourists as it targets Bt100 million sales this year

Thai International Rent A Car Co, an authorised licensee of the international car rental brand, would also launch a marketing campaign and more advertisements to reach its targeted sales of Bt100 million this year.
The company has joined hands with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to promote more trips by car. Thailand has beautiful scenery with mountains and farms like Europe that should be explored more.
Avis in cooperation with TAT is conducting a survey of tourists at various places on travelling in Thailand. It will focus not only on those tourist destinations but also where to eat, what kind of accommodation they prefer and interesting sites in nearby provinces they can travel to.
Kittitat Thaiarry, general manager of Thai International, said last week that the company tries to educate Thai tourists to travel more by car, which will be cheaper than purchasing a tour package. Drivers will be ensured of safety as the company has to abide strictly by international requirements.
“We want Thai tourists to learn more about travelling by car as one of the better ways to go from one point to another,” he said.
The company is adding a service to allow customers to select where they want to pick up their car. However, the company will consider whether the pick-up point is reachable.
The company normally manages a fleet of 600-700 cars with a maximum of 1,000 during peak periods. It has set up 15 stations in Bangkok and popular tourist destination such as Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Udon Thani, Khon Kaen, Phuket, Krabi, Surat Thani, Samui, Hat Yai and Pattaya.
The flood crisis last year spawned a new business of car rentals to flood victims and people whose cars were accidentally sent to a garage or were in an accident. Although it was not a big revenue generator, it made more people aware of the Avis brand, as customers were offered a special rental rate.
The flooding disrupted the company’s operations. Almost half of its cars had to be parked and half were sport utility vehicles. SUVs were popular during the inundation and were part of the company’s vehicles that were sent to assist flood victims and to rent to them.
“We got good feedback after the flood to carry on the business,” he said.
Four major international car-rental brands operating in Thailand – Hertz, Budget, National and Avis – have jointly created a marketing campaign with airlines to persuade tourists to travel more by car.