As a start to the overall plan of reaching out to newer cities and towns within India, Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has planned to host a buyer- seller meet in Coimbatore on 9 January 2013, Mangalore on 11 January 2013 and Pune on 14 January 2013 in the coming year. “India is a very vast and important market for Thailand. While we are happy to see the overall increase in tourist arrivals from India this year, we expect to up the numbers by reaching out to newer markets,” said Sethaphan Buddhani, Director, TAT Mumbai Office. Compared to last year Thailand received a total of 10.37% increase in tourist arrivals to from India. “The numbers this year are overwhelming and that is the reason why we now want to focus more on newer cities which have potential travellers,” he added.
Another key focus for TAT in 2013 will be on highlighting new regions of travel by educating the travel trade on destinations such as Khao Yai, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Trang. Summarising the vision of TAT in 2013, Buddhani stated, “We will be heavily focusing on promoting niche sectors of travel such as biking tours, wedding solutions, medical and wellness tourism throughout 2013.”
