Taking Phuket on the road

PHUKET CITY: Phuket Governor Niran Kalayanamit announced on Friday that to promote Phuket to foreign tourist markets the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) and hotels and hospitals yet to be selected will be going on a 14-country roadshow.

The TAT, OrBorJor, Gov Niran and selected hotels will begin their tour in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France for the International Tourism Borse (ITB) and post-ITB meetings March 4 to 16. From March 16 to 18 the Phuket show will be in Malaysia for the Malaysian Association of Tourism and Travel Agents (MATTA) show.

From there the roadshow will move to Singapore for the National Association of Travel Agents Singapore (NATAS) show on March 23 to 25, and the United Arab Emirates for the Arabian Travel Mart (ATM) May 1 to 4.

From June 11 to 13 they will be in Korea for the Thailand Festival in Korea, followed by a June 14 to 17 stint at Hong Kong’s International Travel Expo (ITE).

Other countries on the roadshow schedule are England and Sweden in August, Russia and nearby countries August to September and India also in September.

Countries that the group wants to eventually visit are Australia, Japan, Morocco, Eastern Europe and China.

The roadshow budget will be provided by the OrBorJor through the TAT. According to OrBorJor President Anchalee Vanich-Thepabutr, the budget for ITB increased to 2.1 million baht as the booth rent price is higher.

Spending for Malaysia will be 250,000 baht, the Singapore tourism show will cost 300,000 baht, Dubai’s tourism show will be 600,000 baht, the roadshow in India will cost 1.5 million baht, and the Russian roadshow will have 1 million baht allocated.

She added that the first priority for hotels selected for the roadshow, given booth space and budget support, will go to those that have paid the hotel tax.

The objectives of the road show are to promote health tourism and the One Tambon One Product (OTOP) goods and services from Phuket.