At the last ITB edition in Berlin a month ago, TAT Governor Suraphon Svetasreni highlighted the need for Thailand to continue to diversify into niche markets. Next to green travel, adventure travel, wedding and honeymoon, medical tourism and wellbeing stay or golf, TAT has also identified the need to present its wide range of products to Thailand’s most discerning travellers. “ In 2013, TAT is undertaking online campaigns to directly tap the premium segments of the tourism industry”, explained the Governor to a European audience of travel trade in Berlin.
“To ensure consistent reach to high-end travelers, TAT is launching the Thailand Super Quality Portal in a clear effort to increase both the quality of our tourism products and the quality of foreign visitors to the country. The Mini Site will present the very best of Thailand’s luxury products and services. It will have many online activities, as well as a concerted CRM drive”, added Mr. Svetasreni.
The portal is due to be ready this month. According to TAT Governor, it will be a tool to actively seek out travel trade partners with premium customers in a bid to strengthen Thailand’s position into a true quality destination.
The luxury segment is one of Asia’s fastest growing and most promising niche market. It is mostly due to expanding economies with an increasingly young and affluent population, a growing desire for rare and rewarding experiences coupled with an increasingly sophisticated demanding traveller, more mature due to the explosion of digital peer-to-peer research and fed with higher expectation.
According to a research done last from the International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM) Asia which takes place every year in Shanghai in early June, all these factors are breeding new and exciting groups of luxury travellers across Asia.
Alison Gilmore, Exhibition Director of ILTM Asia, explained during the presentation that the research showed the emergence of new luxury travel ‘tribes’ in Asia who represent huge opportunities for brands to meet their challenging, sometimes contradictory demands.
Consultant for trend forecasting, brand strategy and consumer insight, Future Poll, gave some indications about the new luxury tribes during the last ILTM edition:
•New Sophisticates from China, India and Indonesia value experiences above status;
•Status Hunters seek brands who can offer ‘behind the scenes’ glimpses;
•Young Guns are online aware and affluent, from China and India and read social media reviews to comparison shop their way around the world;
•Luxe Pack travellers tour the globe with friends and extended family
•Single Saris are professional women from India travelling alone for the first time;
•Luxury Pilgrims look for travel brands that offer 5* hotel and spa treats in India for their religious pilgrimages
•Ultra-honeymooners are booking £200,000 wedding/honeymoon packages
•Frugal Millionaires are from China and are challenging brands to deliver 5* luxury with elements of economy
•Green Shoots lead the environmentally sensitive and culturally aware travel movement to destinations such as Sri Lanka, Cambodia and rural China
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