The 36th edition of the Thailand Tourism Festival 2016 not only highlighted the common spectacle of colourful festivals and vibrant local fairs from the five major regions – North, South, East, Central and Northeast – but also underlined the Thai way of life and its hospitality. By Joy Roy Choudhury
Showcasing the various facets of Thai art and culture, major landmarks, religious traditions and the cuisines of the different regions of the Kingdom, was the recently concluded 36th edition of the Thailand Tourism Festival (TTF) 2016, held from January 13-17, 2016 at Lumpini Park, Bangkok. The theme for TTF 2016 was ‘Discover Thainess Enjoy Amusement of Siam’. TTF provides a platform to boost domestic travel, income distribution, and raise awareness of preserving traditional cultures and indigenous practices driven by the unique identities of each region.
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This year, the festival kicked-off with a street parade portraying the cultural traditions of the five major regions of the country – North, South, East, Central and Northeast, which was followed by song and dance performances highlighting the cultural heritage of Thailand and its way of life. Post this, the festival was inaugurated by HE air chief marshal Prajin Juntong, deputy prime minister of Thailand and HE Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, minister of tourism and sports, ministry of tourism and sports of Thailand. Other dignitaries present during the inauguration included Kalin Sarasin, chairman, TAT; Yuthasak Supasorn, governor, TAT among other senior officials.
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Highlighting the potential of the India market, Wattanavrangkul said, “India is a big market for us and we would continue to pay more attention to Indian tourists this year. Last year, one million Indian tourists visited Thailand and this year we are hoping for a growth of eight-10 per cent in arrivals. Besides India, we would also focus on the ASEAN region. The European market, specially Russia is expected to improve significantly this year, while new markets such as Czech Republic, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan would be tapped. We expect the ASEAN tourist arrivals of seven million this year since the ASEAN tourist market has a huge potential to grow due to the increase in the number of middle class in the region.” Stressing on developing the quality of Thailand’s product offerings, she added, “Our main focus would be to develop the quality of our product offerings significantly. We would market the places, their cultural heritage, food and architecture since we want quality tourists to stay in Thailand for a longer duration and spend more.” In another major development, she said in the coming days TAT would be working closely with its ASEAN neighbours (Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia) and will focus on offering a combined package to tourists.
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Speaking about TTF, Supasorn, said, “The 36th TTF is Thailand’s largest domestic travel fair where Thai and international visitors can learn of various aspects of the Thai culture, traditions, folk wisdom and local ways of life from every region of the Kingdom. Under the ‘Discover Thainess’ concept, the event aims to promote domestic tourism in order to help disseminate tourism revenue to local communities across the country, as well as engage everyone in the conservation of Thailand’s cultural heritage. This event also marks a great beginning for Thai tourism in 2016.” He added, “TAT has been successful in creating an image of the event as Thailand’s most important and largest domestic travel fair. TAT plans to elevate TTF to an international level and develop a further understanding of environmental mindfulness among Thai tourists.” This year TTF drew more than 600,000 visitors.
Segments like spiritual tourism, wellness and spa tourism, and maritime tourism will be promoted in the future. The ’12 Hidden Gems’ project introduced by TAT will be further promoted this year with the focus to attract more tourists to the 12 lesser known provinces. These 12 destinations comprise of two or three provinces each from the five regions of Thailand. These places include Phetchabun, Lampang and Nan in the north. In the north-east there are the two provinces of Buriram and Loei. Representing the east are Trat and Chanthaburi. In the central plains, the two provinces are Samut Songkhram and Ratchaburi. In the south, Trang, Chumphon and Nakhon Si Thammarat are the major focus areas for tourism promotion.