Thailand welcomes French, Belgium agents

Designed to inspire confidence in travel to Thailand and position Thailand as an all year round destination for travellers from the French and Benelux market, the ‘We Love Thailand’ Mega Fam Trip sought to reassure travel trade representatives from France and the Benelux region, (comprising Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg), that the situation in Thailand was back to normal and demonstrate that Thailand is ready to welcome back visitors.

The June 2009 mega FAM trip presented an opportunity for 122 mega FAM trip participants to see for themselves that Thailand remains a friendly and welcoming country that offers tremendous destination diversity and value for money, and the safety, security and well being of travellers ranks the top priority on the tourism agenda.

Eighty-five of the participants were from France and 37 from Belgium. Most of the 122 participants who took part in the June 2009 mega FAM trip are sales agents with an impeccable record. They are top performers and ardent ‘friends’ of Thailand with a keen interest in learning more about the destination to be able to promote travel to Thailand to their client base.

In France, TAT Paris partnered with the Thai Airways International (THAI) office in Paris and the following leading travel wholesalers: Asia specializes in combined packages; Best Tours — a Phuket and the Andaman travel specialist; CFA Voyages specializes in ethnic travel products; Thomas Cook/Jet Tours specialize in the world heritage products and honeymoon travel niche markets; and Kuoni and Voyageur Associés both focus on the health and honeymoon niche market.

In Belgium, THAI and the following travel wholesalers Jet Air (World of TUI), Best Tours, Travel World, and Rainbow, supported TAT Paris in the organization of the mega FAM trip.

The mega FAM trip itinerary highlighted two of Thailand’s top niche products culture and beach destinations and included destinations and tourism attractions in Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Mae Hong Son, Samui, Khao Lak, Phuket, Bangkok, and Pattaya.

FAM trip participants were divided into six groups. During their seven-day visit to the Thai kingdom, each group surveyed one of the six routes featured in the program and participated in site inspections of tourism destinations and attractions.

Following the survey and site inspection trip, all six groups met together to conduct a presentation and shared with other FAM trip colleagues their thoughts and impressions on the various destination highlights and tourism products that they had experienced and which they felt would be of interest to visitors from their individual markets. Not only did these sessions promote interaction and active discussion and exchange among FAM trip participants, they also enabled individual participants to broaden their knowledge of destinations and Thai tourism products.

The mega FAM trip was also timed to coincide with the Thailand Travel Mart Plus (TTM+) 2009. This presented a further opportunity for FAM trip participants to participate in TTM+ 2009 as trade visitors and network with Thai trade counterparts and tourism operators.

Total visitor arrivals to Thailand from the region in 2008 increased by 39,000. This represents an average growth of 5.3 per cent over 2007. TAT Paris believes that there is a high potential for continued growth and views the mega fam trip as being the most effective way of reassuring French and Belgian travel trade counterparts that Thailand remains a friendly and welcoming country.

TAT Paris expresses confidence that 2009 total visitor arrivals to Thailand from France and the Benelux will close at 3,000 visitors contributing to 1.75 billion Baht in tourism revenue and foreign exchange earnings for Thailand.