Isra Stapanaseth, Director, TAT Delhi inaugurates ITM Amritsar
Isra Stapanaseth, Director of Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), Delhi office inaugurates India’s most prominent International Travel & Tourism Exhibition, ITM Amritsar – India Travel Mart in the presence of Piyush Kapoor, General Secretary- Amritsar Hotels & Restaurant Associations (AHARA), delegates, exhibitors, travel agents, tour operators, travel trade, hoteliers, media and large number of Outbound & Domestic Travellers of Punjab and nearby states.
On this occasion, Stapanaseth said that India is emerging market for Thailand considering that the outlook for outbound tourists from India is set to grow by leaps and bounds. Thailand being the first preferred destination due to exponential growth; not only are Indians high spenders but are also looking at Thailand for big fat Indian weddings, celebrations, film shoots, MICE and for leisure travel. Thailand provides for everything and to all segments. 1.043 million Indian tourist went to Thailand in 2017 (Jan to Sep), 16% growth.
He said, Amritsar is a very potential market for us as we have seen a lot of growth like weddings, Family, Mice which are already very popular from here so we would like to focus more on tier 2 and 3 cities like Amritsar, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Bhubaneswar, Jaipur and Lucknow, etc. Stapanaseth added, the purpose of our visit to Amritsar is to meet first time traveller and create awareness, networking with travel agents and media and update them about the new products and strategies which are:
a. To Promote Thailand as a “Preferred Destination”
b. Increase Spen ding and Expand Medium & High end Market Base
c. Expand Special Interest Market Base- Leisure Segment, Family vacations to beach destinations, Golfing trips (Corporate and businessmen), Luxury Groups, Celebrations (Weddings, Anniversaries, Birthdays), Women only tours, Special Interest Groups, New segments that we are looking are Women, senior citizens, bachelors and bachelorettes and also Sr. Citizens as they are now venturing out of India and their figures are rising.
He said “We are trying to connect these cities with the direct flight so that it will be easy for tourists to Travel from Chandigarh and its nearby cities like Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Moga, etc. A Direct flight will be coming from 11th December 2017 onwards from Chandigarh to Bangkok which is only 4.30hrs flight and further connect to other cities of Thailand. We are targeting to connect tier 2 and 3 cities of India with tier 2 and 3 cities of Thailand.”
Leisure traveller looks for experience, comfort, hospitality, easy accessibility, a destination that welcomes you. Variety and cost effective, world class facilities yet reasonable, Thailand offers all, he added.
