TAT lowers the cost of romance

Tourism Authority of Thailand targets Vietnamese honeymooners using an “Amazing Moment in Life” campaign that focuses on Samui and Phuket islands.

Beach“This is a new market for us based on our observations that Vietnamese honeymooners usually head for Nha Trang beach. Phuket, or Samui could have a market here, instead of us just selling Bangkok and Pattaya,” said TAT Ho Chi Minh Office director, Pichai Raktasinha, during last weekâ€'s ITE-HCMC show.

Nha Trang, the countryâ€'s most popular beach resort is located in central Vietnam about 450 km north of Ho Chi Minh City and 1300 km south of Hanoi.

TAT is promoting itineraries that use a Bangkok Airways special fare. In addition,  through TATâ€'s  financial support the cost of the package can be reduced to US$499 for a four-day/three-night trip to Samui or a five-day/four-night to Phuket. The  price for bookings confirmed by  20 October.

Mr Pichai said pricing was the only factor that counted in the Vietnamese outbound market.

“They check out various destinations  and the one with the lowest price gets the business ,” he said. Normally, tours from Ho Chi Minh City to Nha Trang cost around US$394 by air and from US$128 to US$301 by land.

Vietnamese tourists to Thailand will decline this year by 6% from 337,000 arrivals in 2007 to around 300,000. He believes that next year the market should rebound with a 10 to 20% growth representing an additional 50,000 arrivals.