DRToronto: The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has recently opened its 28th TAT overseas office in Toronto to target the high potential Canadian market. The occasion was also used to launch the ‘Amazing Thailand’s Open to the New Shades’ marketing concept in Canada.
The official opening ceremony of the TAT’s third office in North America after New York and Los Angeles was attended by Maris Sangiampongsa, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Thailand to Canada; Kalin Sarasin, Chairman, TAT Board; Yuthasak Supasorn, TAT Governor, and Tanes Petsuwan, TAT Deputy Governor, Marketing Communications.
Around 150 guests including Canadian travel companies, travel media, guests from the business community attended an evening reception which featured a live music performance by famous Thai saxophonist Koh Saxman, a demonstration of fruit and vegetable carving, and making of artificial flowers and carps from palm leaves.
Tanes Petsuwan presented the ‘4D Open to the New Shades’, highlighting five categories of products: Gastronomy, Nature and Beach, Culture, Way of Life, Art and Craft.
Kalin Sarasin said, “This is our 28th TAT Overseas office. We chose Toronto, the capital city of Ontario, because it is a vibrant, multi-cultural city and one of the largest metropolitan areas in North America. We believe it will be a perfect location to cover Canada, which has been identified in our current marketing plan as a high potential market with a long average length of stay and strong purchasing power.”
In 2016, the average length of stay for the Canadian travellers in Thailand was approximately 18 days, which doubled the overall length of stay with expenditure per day of around 172 Canadian Dollars per person. Moreover, Ontario was the largest source of Canadian travellers to Thailand in 2017, with a market share of 45 per cent.
From 2013-2017, the revenue from the Canada market rose 6 per cent on average in five years. “We are working with local partners to develop new products and introduce new local experiences in Thailand that fit with the targeted segments, including the Baby Boomers, Gen X, and Gen Y. They are strongly interested in beach, culture, health and wellness, weddings and honeymoons, and our gastronomical delights,” he added.
Although there are currently no direct flights from any Canadian city to Bangkok, TAT is working closely with friendly airlines such as, Cathay Pacific, EVA Airways, Emirates, Qatar, Korean Airlines and Air Canada to route traffic to Thailand via their respective hubs.
In 2017, Canadian visitor arrivals to Thailand totalled 2,58,392, up by 5.52 per cent over 2016. This contributed to income of 845.9 million Canadian Dollars, representing a growth of 7.61 per cent. At the end of this year, TAT projects a revenue growth of 8.46 per cent from the Canada market.
