The 16th edition of Thailand’s largest B2B travel trade event, ‘Thailand Travel Mart Plus – Amazing Gateway to the Greater Mekong Subregion’ (TTM+) 2017, has been inaugurated in the Northern Thai city of Chiang Mai today. Organised by the the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), the three-day mega event is being held from June 14-16, 2017 at the Chiang Mai International Exhibition and Convention Centre (CMECC). The theme of TTM + this year is “Discover Unique Local Experiences.” Inaugurating the event, Thanasak Patimaprakorn , Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand, said, “Culture is the spirit of tourism. We open new venues for tourism to attract more visitors from across the world.” Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, Tourism and Sports Minister of Thailand spoke about the importance of community based tourism which is of great attraction to new age tourists who want to truly experience local culture.
TTM + 2017 is witnessing a record number of participants, almost 1500, including buyers, sellers and the media. This is the second consecutive year that TTM+ is being organised in Chiang Mai, primarily to create greater awareness about the many attractions of the Northern Thailand region. There is a focused effort to promote the unique tourism products of North and Northeast Thailand. In an exclusive interaction, Wattanavrangkul said, “Chiang Mai has a unique identity which we want to promote to the world. Chiang Mai is best of the best and that is why we chose it to be the host city for TTM+ this year again.”
Speaking about the India market, she said, “India is a very valuable market to us. Indians are quality tourists, and we are number one as wedding destination for the India market and a leading family destination. Even though Indian tourists have visited Thailand several times, there are many unique and lesser known tourism highlights of Thailand that Indian visitors need to explore and experience. For instance, they might have come to Chiang Mai a few times but there are so many new activities here that can be experienced.”
