Restore Pattaya tourism campaign gets under way

At the "Restore Pattaya Tourism" seminar held in the city in the last week of June, delegates were informed about the special tourism stimulus budget of Bt20 million and other elements of a recovery plan for tourism. These include a new marketing strategy and approaching emerging markets, along the lines delineated by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), recently.

World tourists were observed by the organization to have radically different perceptions regarding Thailand. Accordingly, TAT has decided to divide tourists into four categories:

“Ready to Travel” - India, Russia, Indonesia, the Persian Gulf and Scandinavia, who are not sensitive to the Kingdom’s political situation and are solvent;
“Potentially Returning Visitors” - most of Europe and the US, who show concern about the political situation and are becoming value-conscious;
“Concerned Travellers” - China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam and Australia, who are very anxious about Thailand’s political situation and are currently affected by the economic slowdown.
“Highly Sensitive Travellers” - Japan, Korea and Taiwan, who are extremely sensitive to Thailand’s political instability and suffering from extreme recession.

TAT decided, as a result if this breakdown analysis, only to concentrate on the two most promising categories. For their part the Pattaya City Council, according to Deputy Mayor Ronakit Ekasingh, “will approach new emerging markets like Russia, China and India because tourists from those countries usually spend more money than those from other nations".

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