It was decided to move the awards presentation for the 2013 “Friends of Thailand” – which since 1996 has normally been part of the annual Thailand Tourism Awards – to the TTM to add value to the show.
This year’s TTM has its emphasis on building business for niche markets, so the TAT has reserved slots for specialised products such as health and wellness, golf, ecotourism, and wedding-and-honeymoon packages.
TAT governor Suraphon Svetasreni said, “We will promote niche-market tourism as we move into a new era of marketing and development.
“This year, it will be more evident than ever, as the entire structure of TTM+ is geared towards this strategy and connecting the right buyer to the right seller.”
By last weekend 22 sellers from the health and wellness segment had signed up, along with nine from weddings and honeymoons, six from ecotourism, and three from golf.
The TAT is flagging niche markets as the driver that makes the event different from other trade fairs, and this has met with a cautious response from niche operators because most of have little in the way of promotional funds, or are not convinced of the value of presenting their products to trade buyers.
Many have asked the TAT to clarify how many buyers with a track record in their specific markets will attend the show.
In the past, the TTM has followed the same buyer format as most shows in the region. The buyers mainly send groups of tourists to the region and do not specialise in any particular segment.
So far, 413 buyers have registered. The top 10 are: India (51); UK (38); Thailand (23); Australia (23); Russia (20); US (18); South Korea (17); Israel (11); Italy (10); and New Zealand (10).
Nine travel associations will take participate; five national tourism offices from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and China’s Guangxi; 20 companies from the Greater Mekong Subregion, 266 hotels and resorts, 31 tour operators and travel agents, 12 entertainment/theme park/cultural products, six each representing transportation companies and other travel services.
Last year, TTM welcomed 1,000 participants including 420 sellers and 409 buyers from 61 countries.
So far for this year 395 sellers have paid for booths. Of these 309 are repeat sellers, while 86 are new participants in the show.
TTM will take place at the Exhibition Centre Hall, Impact Muang Thong Thani in Bangkok.