In Phuket Town, a large Santa Claus has been installed to appear scaling the old police building at the Chartered Bank Intersection.
The huge Santa is just one of the decorations installed throughout Phuket Town as part of Phuket City Municipality’s New Year event, themed ‘The colours of happiness, saying goodbye to the old year’.
Phuket City Municipality has created three ‘check-in’ points in Phuket Town where visitors can take photos and share them as ‘check-in’ posts on social media.
The other two ‘check-in’ venues are at Surin Circle (the ‘Clock Tower Circle’) and at Suriyadet Circle (the ‘water cannon circle’ where Ranong Rd meets Yaowarat Rd).
In Patong, a large Santa has been set up beside the police box at the beach at the end of Bangla Rd, along with a variety of other decorations for tourists to enjoy for the New Year.
Phuket officials have not yet released any estimates of tourism arrivals for the New Year holiday period, but the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has already set a revenue target of B3.5 trillion for 2024, with B2.5trn expected from international tourists and B1trn from domestic tourism.
Announcing plans to enhance tourism quality and promote sustainable practices, TAT Governor Thapanee Kiatphaibool earlier this week said efforts will include boosting tourism in secondary cities and reducing dependence on any single market, adding that the agency’s upcoming ‘365 Days, Marvellous Thailand Every Day’ campaign is expected to encourage more frequent and diverse domestic travel, explained state news agency NNT.
According to Ms Thapanee, collaboration with the Thai Chamber of Commerce will also help elevate 10 secondary cities, building on the 73.32 million domestic tourist visits in the first nine months of 2023 that generated B169.608bn.
For international tourism, the TAT’s strategies focus on sustainable branding, new market exploration, partnerships, transportation connectivity, and digital marketing. A key goal is the resurgence of Chinese tourists, targeting 8.2mn arrivals in 2024.
Despite the focus on China, TAT is also diversifying its approach by targeting markets like Malaysia, India, Russia and Taiwan, and emerging markets such as Saudi Arabia and Southeast Asian countries.
‒ Additional reporting by Ekkapop Thongtub