Recovery fund, public relations, marketing campaign and super deals - all part of the plan to revive its tourism fortunes

With its tourism industry battered by a political crisis which culminated in the week-long closure of Suvarnabhumi Airport last month, Thailand's tourism public and private sectors are determined to start the new year on a fighting note.

This spirit is one that Singapore and the rest of ASEAN could learn from in the current economic climate, as Thailand, whose tourism industry was badly hit after the 2004 Asian Tsunami disaster, is no stranger to dealing with crisis. In fact, various ASEAN members have started developing their respective campaigns to boost tourism in 2009, and driving intra-ASEAN tourism will be one of the key priorities at the upcoming ASEAN Tourism Forum 2009 in Hanoi, Vietnam this month.

Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), Mrs Phornsiri Manoharn, told P@SSPORT that planning meetings had been underway to bring back business.

"We are very fortunate that many hundreds of travel companies, airlines, hotels and media are supporting us worldwide. The stakes are too high, and everyone has to do their best to get business rolling again."

A budget has been put together to kickstart recovery efforts. The fund would go towards three areas - Bt2,400 million to aid tourists affected by the closure of the airport; Bt20,000 million for short-term soft loans for SMEs in tourism industry, and Bt1,900 million for urgent marketing and public relations activities.

The TAT chief outlined TAT's three-point recovery plan for 2009.

• Emergency measures to restore visitor confidence in safety and security.
• Policy measures to promote more domestic travel and international visitor arrivals to Thailand.
• Marketing measures both overseas and domestic.

Government objective is to restore Thailand's destination image

In overseas marketing, she said TAT would work to restore the image of Thailand by launching a special campaign called Thailand: Invitation and step up online marketing. It would also work with industry partners to launch special packages, advertising in local media, promote value cards and coupons, organise media trips to Thailand, encourage overseas Thai residents to visit Thailand and attract seminars and exhibitions to Thailand.

In addition, as soon as the new Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjaijiva, was appointed, a meeting was held between the new head of state and leading travel associations. Tourism leaders urged the Prime Minister to head the government's economic recovery team and to ensure that the appointed Minster of Tourism and Sports would be proactive and able to make quick decisions, said a report in Travel Trade Report.

The Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT), the umbrella grouping of various industry associations, also called for a meeting of members to not only assess the damage but also finalise recovery programmes and set up more permanent crisis management systems, according to Secretary General, Phorntip Addie Samerton.

Mrs Manoharn said that the impact on tourism had been "quite substantial".

"Visitor arrivals have predictably slumped, as did the image of the country, investment flow and visitor confidence. We are expecting declines in arrivals and revenues. Jobs will be affected. The external situation such as the global financial crisis has made things worse. But we are now looking ahead. We have a new Prime Minister and the entire industry is now gearing up to revive tourism."

She added: "The 14 million arrivals projection for 2008 is the same as 2007. We expect that arrivals will improve in the first quarter of 2009, now that the situation has returned to normal. Overall, however, if we compare it with the first quarter of 2008, the number of visitors will be down for sure. However, we project an improvement in the second quarter of 2009. The TAT is hoping to ensure that international visitor arrivals in 2009 is not less than 15 million."

Travel trade rally despite expected drop in numbers

Travel trade partners for Thailand's tourism are quickly showing ASEAN neighbours how to make the best of a bad situation and coming up with internal and consumer-focussed initiatives to beat the downturn.

Mr Luzi Matzig, Group Managing Director of Asian Trails, another major inbound operator, expects a 30% drop in incoming tour business to Thailand during the first quarter of 2009, and about 15-20% down during the second quarter.

Asian Trails has introduced cost saving measures such as no salary increases, no replacement of staff, a freeze on new equipment purchases and a reduction in attendance at trade shows.

Ms Chananya Phataraprasit, Chairman of East West Siam, a leading inbound operator, is expecting a 30% drop in revenues in the first quarter "if there is no more crisis".

Ms Chananya, who is also Chairman of Asian Oasis, a collection of unique travel experiences popular with high-end European clients, said she planned to work closely with existing clients and directly with consumers and to "motivate our staff through this very tough time".

Fighting spirit, flexibility and fearlessness

Ms Chananya has introduced what she calls the 3Fs.

• Fighting Spirit: we have to fight for every booking, fight for every rate from our suppliers, fight for clients not to cancel, fight for ever payment and every booking request.
• Flexibility: everyone has to be flexible; offer changes in programmes, find new price or products, doing more than what the job requires and always be flexible with our clients.
• Fearless: Embrace change and crisis, however hard its is, don't fear and you will find a solution, sometimes acceptance is the hardest to overcome, be fearless in offering new ideas and solutions and be fearless in going after what we need."

The company is also launching new products and programmes, including "Supersaver" packages.

"Hopefully, it will help draw some of the clients and help them sell Thailand. Thailand is already perceived as good value for money. With further savings, we hope the clients feel that it's too good to turn down. These packages are for only a limited period, some might want to take advantage of them," she said.

What should the tourism industry be doing?

Asked what the Thai tourism industry should be doing to revive its fortunes, Mr Matzig said: "Launch major new ad campaigns, go on road shows, organise media and agents familiarisation trips to woo back visitors from all major markets, but especially from Asia, India and Middle East."

Added Ms Chananya: "The industry needs to gain tourist confidence back, we need to have a comprehensive and targeted international PR campaign. We have to work together in one direction; like national promotion; be it discounts or add-ons.

"The most important factor is to move quickly; not sit and evaluate the impact, make studies and then create a plan. This is a crisis. In a crisis the industry has to act immediately, the longer we prolong our actions the slower the recovery. We need to act now."