TAT begins planning 2012 marketing strategy

PATTAYA: -- Local Tourism Authority of Thailand officials have begun laying out marketing plans for 2012, but its overseas efforts could be hampered by the growing jet ski scandal at home.

At a Feb. 28 Pattaya Business & Tourism Association meeting, TAT Pattaya Director Niti Kongkrut said Brazil and Australia are among Pattaya’s new target markets for potential visitors with “high purchasing power.” At the same time, TAT wants to put more resources into further marketing the city to Russia, India and China.

Full story HERE

-- Pattaya Mail 2011-03-12

so they have ditched the marketing drive for Iraian tourists?

and why on earth are the targeting people from brazil ?

so they have ditched the marketing drive for Iraian tourists?

and why on earth are they targeting people from brazil ?

good point -- i really cant see Brazil being a high volume market - in fact it should be the other way around - marketing the carvinal in Rio, and why on earth Australia where just about everyone there of tourist profile knows about Pattaya and Phuket - andd i fact know them better than then know their own country tourist destinations - good to see that TAT is using their usual top end marketing consultants ...... or do these locations feature in the bucket list of a few people haaaa - know where i would be placing my bets= now I am the last person to suggest that this sort of thing would go on in a state govt organization - heavean forbid = which of course it has - - bb

Based on recent experiences, they should focus on fixing things in Thailand for a start such as:

1. overpriced accommodation (terrible value for money)

2. terrible food (better food served on the street rather than in the hotel itself)

3. terrible service (10 staff standing around, none willing to do anything)

4. old or unclean rooms

5. jet ski, taxi and tuk-tuk scams

6. cleaner, safer beaches

To name but a few . . .

I think if some of these things were fixed/improved, more tourists would not only come, but come again and again, rather than coming once, being disappointed and then going home and telling everyone how bad it is here, putting off even more people from coming.

Take a look at the hotel reviews on Agoda for example . . . nearly every single one has multiple comments about the terrible rooms or terrible service etc

Fix what's wrong first before spending huge amounts of money trying to get more people to come here.