THAI is wasting its 'amazing' potential

None of the secondary tourism cities such as Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and Phuket was affected. Yet, many around the world were shocked by the photos of flooded aircraft lying still at Don Mueang airport. As a consequence, the numbers of tourists to Thailand in October, November and now December, dropped dramatically as well.

With respects to the management of Thai Airways, here are ten facts that it did not do but could have done. Please treat them as constructive recommendations.

1. NO POST-FLOOD MARKETING CAMPAIGNS TO STIMULATE TOURISTS TRAFFIC BACK-TO-THAILAND. It’s easier to sit back and cut the 500 flights than to create clever tourism campaigns to stimulate demands. The national carrier has got the means to promote Thailand in same way as TAT has. 

2. DO NOT ALLOW HIGH SEASON TO BECOME SOFT SEASON. This management should not allow itself to become the first in history to accumulate the first loss in Q4. If nothing is done quickly, this high season the next 3 months will worse yet become a soft season. Don’t blame the flood.

3. NO INDIA EXPANSION IN 5 YEARS. Our national carrier has not opened any new city in Asia last five years, not counting domestic Samui.

4. NO CHINA EXPANSION IN NEARLY 10 YEARS. Last new cities on THAI network were Chengdu and Xiamen in 2002/2003.

5. NO INDONESIA EXPANSION SINCE 1968. The irony here is that THAI was world first international carrier to pioneer Bali back in 1968. It stopped there.

6. UNDER-UTILIZING PHUKET POTENTIALS. Strategically speaking, Phuket should be made into THAI’s second hub. Looking back, THAI was world first international carrier who put Phuket on aviation map by introducing direct services Phuket-Singapore in the early 1980s with TG405/TG406. THAI stopped due to unprofitability but others seemed to profit. Sooner or later there will be a need to pioneer Delhi-Phuket flights, among others.

7. NO EXPANSION TO THE MIDDLE EAST. In fact, THAI has only shrunk. The planners should start looking at Tehran, Tel Aviv and Tashkent for new sizeable traffic. If we can fly to Islamabad, we might as well fly to Tehran.

8. GET BACK INTO PROMOTING THAILAND. The need to promote Thailand as a world class destination and home base is more important than ever, especially after the floods. If inflight magazine “Sawasdee” is any indication, the national carrier had failed to promote Thailand wholeheartedly. During January to November of 2011, not once did we see Thailand on the front cover. Strangely, we see baroque places on the covers like St. Petersburg in February and Barcelona in June – places THAI doesn’t even fly to.

9. NOT TO CREATE A NEW AIRLINE TO DILUTE ITSELF. The new “SMILE” airline should not be cosmetic but needs to have structural change, flying to new emerging middle-class markets 

in Asia. Duplicating existing domestic routes on THAI would be a waste.

10. NOT TO CREATE A TAGLINE THAT REMINDS US OF STEVE JOBS. For all the followers of Steve Jobs around the world, the tagline “i fly THAI” is a reminder of the product range of iPhone, iPad, iPod, etc, etc. It’s the same effect of Absolute Vodka and Planet Hollywood which earlier had many followers to later become “Absolute whatever” and “Planet whatever”. Be a leader, not a follower. In this case, it’s just going to be “i whatever”.

We want to see all sectors grow, not shrinking and loosing. In particular, there remain many potentials for THAI. Good luck, smooth as silk.

With all respects,

Nitiphong Photharach,

Royal Orchid Plus member, Bangkok