TAT and Xishuangbanna jointly promote tourism

Tourism of Authority of Thailand plans joint marketing with China’s Xishuangbanna Prefecture to support the launch of  China Eastern Airlines services to Bangkok, due to start 26 October.

Tourism Authority of Thailand executive director, Sansern Ngaorangsi, says a joint committee will be set up with China’s Yunnan Xishuangbanna Prefecture to promote tourism, exchange information, produce a map for the route from Thailand to Xishuangbanna and Kunming, exchange media trips and jointly host mini travel marts.

In November, it will bring 30 to 40 tourism operators based in North Thailand to hold table-top sales in Xishuangbanna’s capital of Jinghong before heading to the China International Travel Mart in Kunming, 19 to 22 November.

The new flight Xishuangbanna-Bangkok starts, 26 October, with four weekly services using a 150-seat aircraft. The airline will start two flights to Chiang Mai and Phuket if the Bangkok route proves popular.

“We will be able to extend tours to Xishuangbanna  for European travellers, who are visiting Thailand.  This will be a benefit as Thailand will be the gateway. Also 6.7 million Chinese tourists visit Xishuangbanna , annually, so we can tap that market,” said Mr Sansern.

Xishuangbanna prefecture visited Thailand, last month,  to check out investment and tourism potential in Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Bangkok and Phuket.

During the meeting with around 30 private sector companies in Bangkok, the delegation proposed:

1) Advertising support for the new flight Xishuangbanna-Bangkok service.

2) Thai travel agents, who organise tours to the North, should extend them to include Xishuangbanna, using a variety of transport options.

3) Tourism units create a joint-information centre to push tourism between the two countries.

4) Invite Thai tourism operators to invest in Xishuangbanna, based on new investment rules. It requires an initial RMB300,000 capital investment.