Show focuses on domestic travel

The 16th Discovery Thailand and Discovery World 2009, held last week, at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre in Bangkok attracted approximately 300,000 visitors and generated not less than Bt400 million in sales during the four-day event,  3 to 6 September.

It mainly focused on domestic travel with trips north outselling southern destinations.

Approximately, 750 tourism businesses joined the fair representing hotels, car rentals, golf courses, dive shops, airlines and even international tourist organisations.

Organiser of the fair, PK Exhibition Management managing director, Krit Patarapal, said it required co-operation with credit card companies to secure sales this year.

“Consumers spend less cash now,  so we teamed up with HSBC and Citibank credit cards to encourage consumers to buy holidays and pay later.”

At the previous fair, held in March, Citibank reported Bt120 million in revenue, while HSBC gained about Bt100 million revenue.

Consumers browsed the show on the  first and tended to return a day or so later to make a purchase, he said.

Most  hotels and resorts sold a “buy one, get one free” package rather than offer cash discounts.

Trips to see the baby panda’s mother at the Chiang Mai Zoo were the most popular domestic trips at the show.

It was noted that tour operators and hoteliers are turning away from consumer media advertisements on TV and print and focusing more on exhibitions, because they can directly estimate the  return on investment.

“They can count the packages sold at the show and evaluate the worth of the investment,” said Mr Krit.

The next fair will be held, 29 October to 1 November,   while the first event in 2010 will be held, 11 to 14 March, with 20,000 sqm of space available  instead of 15,000 sqm.