More than 200 hospitality industry executives from Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam learned about the opportunities created by next year’s formation of the ASEAN Economic Community at a seminar in Pattaya.
Amnuay Tiemkirakul, Tourism Authority of Thailand’s director of the South Asia and Pacific region of ASEAN, led the Dec. 17 workshop at the Centara Grand Mirage Beach Resort, attended by six representatives each from Indonesia and Vietnam.
Representatives from various hotels, resorts and other tourist organizations take part in the seminar.
Through November, Thailand attracted 5.8 million visitors from the ASEAN region – more than 26 percent of overall tourists to visit the kingdom – a decline of 11.4 percent from 2013. November was virtually flat at 243,547 ASEAN visitors.
Most people who attended the seminar were business operators in the Pattaya area who are involved in tourism and eager to gather information and prepare marketing plans for when the AEC fully launches, likely at the end of next year.
Business vendors must also adjust and be able to handle new customers. Many tourists are likely to travel to other provinces of Thailand, but Pattaya is a major draw, which is why business vendors must take the opportunity to draw income countries like Indonesia and Vietnam.
The main purpose of the seminar was to educate Pattaya’s business operators on marketing to Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, reviewing plans the Tourism Authority of Thailand has prepared.
TAT’s Pattaya office representatives were joined by those from the Tourism Authority of Jakarta and the Tourism Authority Ho Chi Minh to offer strategies at the seminar.
