The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) recently organized the Amazing Thailand Health and Wellness Virtual Trade Meet 2020 to keep the country’s award-winning health and wellness sector top-of-mind while travel to Thailand is restricted due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Running from 15 to 17 December, the three-day event was attended by 51 Thai suppliers and 86 buyers exceeding the target of 80 buyers. The sellers comprised 13 existing Thai suppliers and 38 new participants across seven product and service sectors from 12 provinces including 26 from Bangkok alone. The 86 buyers hailed from 27 countries, including 37 from Europe and the Middle East, 24 from East Asia (China and South Korea), 16 from ASEAN, South Asia, and Oceania, and nine from the Americas.
Mr. Yuthasak Supasorn, TAT Governor, said, “Due to the current challenging conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic, TAT has taken this opportunity to promote Thailand’s health and wellness industry. People are now more health conscious that ever before, and Thailand is among the world’s top destinations that international tourists want to visit once the situation improves. This is helped because the country is globally recognized for its effective COVID-19 preventive control measures.”
The Amazing Thailand Health and Wellness Virtual Trade Meet 2020 also provided an opportunity for Thai health and beauty tour operators to give information on new products and services in Thailand. It also let them to virtually meet with potential international partners to share best practices or new trends from various professionals overseas. The format successfully utilised two main activities:
A Virtual Trade Meet with pre-scheduled appointments with three time durations according to the different time zones for short haul, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and the Americas plus informative Webinars.
The Webinars kicked off on Tuesday, 15 December, with a ‘The Future Trends of Health and Wellbeing Economy: Wellness Tourism Trend 2021’ session by the Director of Baramizi Lab followed by market insight updates on health and wellness from TAT offices in Moscow, New Delhi and Chengdu on the state of the Russian, South Asian and Chinese markets. This was followed by a highly anticipated session about market insights on the North American wellness traveler by President and CEO of the Wellness Tourism Association of Canada in conjunction with the TAT Toronto Office.
On Wednesday 16 December and Thursday 17 December, buyers were updated on important on measures for tackling COVID-19 and the New Future of Thailand’s New Normal by the Department of Disease Control, and the state of wellness quarantine in Thailand by the Department of Health Service Support. It was followed by another update from TAT regarding the Amazing Thailand Safety and Health Administration (SHA).
Destination updates from Phuket, Samui, and Krabi, along with presentations from the Spa Association and the Private Hospital Association of Thailand also provided both market specific and association updates.
TAT hopes that the Amazing Thailand Health and Wellness Mart 2021 will be held next year after the situation is fully recovered.
