| Commenting on the reasons for starting an office in Mumbai and its role, Sethapan Buddhani, Director, TAT Mumbai said, “India is a vast and an important market for us. A single office in Delhi was insufficient to promote our country aggressively and cover the Indian market comprehensively. Apart from servicing the travel trade, the role of Mumbai office will be to market and promote the destination in the assigned regions, as well as interact with the media. The major focus segments for the Mumbai office are Weddings and honeymoon, corporate, Bollywood and high-end luxury market especially FITs.” |
8th Mar, 10, Travel Biz |
Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) inaugurated its Mumbai office this morning. The Mumbai office will tap and service Western and Southern India, Sri Lanka and Maldives. The office in Mumbai with staff strength of five including a director, assistant director, marketing manager, executive assistant and support staff, is the second for TAT in India. While TAT has set up its office in Mumbai it will continue its association with Charson Advisory Services Pvt. Ltd., for Public Relations and marketing consultants.
Commenting on the reasons for starting an office in Mumbai and its role, Sethapan Buddhani, Director, TAT Mumbai said, “India is a vast and an important market for us. A single office in Delhi was insufficient to promote our country aggressively and cover the Indian market comprehensively. Apart from servicing the travel trade, the role of Mumbai office will be to market and promote the destination in the assigned regions, as well as interact with the media. The major focus segments for the Mumbai office are Weddings and honeymoon, corporate, Bollywood and high-end luxury market especially FITs.”
According to Buddhani, the luxury market holds huge potential as for many travel companies the margins are less for leisure group tours compared to high-end FIT segment.
Buddhani also informed that TAT is looking at giving a thrust to expose other destinations beyond Bangkok and Pattaya in the Indian market. “We have a variety of destinations and products. We want to increase visibility of destinations in Northern, Eastern coast and parts of Southern Thailand like Kanchanbhuri province, Ayutthaya, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Sukhothai, Krabi and Hua Hin. We are also working on promoting Wellness and Medical Tourism in India. Hua Hin which is two and half hours from Bangkok has wonderful spas and is an excellent destination for Wellness Tourism. We are also working with hospitals, airlines and entertainment service providers like theme parks etc. to create composite packages for Medical Tourism.”
Speaking about the synergies with TAT, Sonali Vaz, Managing Director, Charson Advisory Services Pvt. Ltd. said, “We will continue to be the PR and marketing arm of TAT in an advisory role. We have been associated with TAT for three years as their representatives and have been providing support with our expertise and in-depth information of the Indian market.” In her opinion Thailand is now ready to graduate to the next level in the Indian market to attract repeat and experienced travellers. “The focus is on extending duration of stay from two to three nights to five to six nights and getting Indian travellers to explore different regions and facets of Thailand. We have already conducted a FAM trip for Bollywood location scouts, one for corporate sector for golf and also took four agents from the regions under Mumbai office to Issan in North Eastern Thailand,” informed Vaz.
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