The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is gearing up for high-end travellers from the US and Canada this year by partnering with luxury department store chains to promote tourism.
The TAT is talking with some department stores in Canada, presenting post-production film shoots after successfully launching the marketing campaign "Art of Travel" at Neiman Marcus, a high-end American department store chain, in February.
"The main challenge for the US and Canada markets is the lack of direct flights to Thailand, so we have to maintain tourism momentum in these markets," said Runjuan Tongrut, TAT executive director of the Americas region.
She said the partnership with Neiman Marcus helped TAT to draw attention from quality tourists by using locations in Thailand for film shoots and advertising the destinations in Neiman Marcus' spring book via online platforms, and in stores.
Other organisations also took part in the campaign, such as Tourism Ireland, Audley Travel and MSC Cruise.
Last month, the TAT also hosted a Songkran festival at Neiman Marcus's Beverly Hills branch to engage directly with target groups and travel agents to offer Thailand tourism packages.
"We plan to expand tourism projects like this to other retailers in this region. We are in discussion and the pre-production process with luxury department stores in Canada to lure more tourists to visit Thailand in July to September," said Ms Runjuan.
The TAT is also aiming for a perennial target: honeymooners and weddings. To support this segment, the TAT has developed an application called "Thai the Knot Sales Companion" to plan a dream romance trip to Thailand, she said.
Other areas of focus include leisure groups, especially first-time visitors to Thailand, and millennials who tend to be interested in health and wellness tourism, particularly fitness and mind-body activities like muay thai and yoga.
The Tourism and Sports Ministry reports 1.12 million Americans and 276,543 Canadians visited last year. This year, the TAT expects its marketing campaigns will help boost arrivals from these two countries by 8% from 2018.
In the first quarter, Thailand welcomed 322,576 visitors from the US, up by 5% year-on-year, and generated 24.5 billion baht in income, or nearly 7% growth.
Some 92,552 Canadians arrived here during the first quarter, up 1.7%, and generated 7.8 billion baht income, a 0.2% increase.
