Learning from the Experience of Others:An Exclusive Interview with Junnapong Saranak, Director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand's Taipei Office

Q: Thailand has been one of the most successful nations in Asia at developing its tourism industry. What do you feel has been the key to this success? Is there something here that Taiwan can emulate?

A: Government support has been the most important factor in the success of Thailand's tourism industry. The government has provided money for advertising and promotional campaigns, and has also offered the travel and hotel industries preferential tax treatment. It has also established a Tourism Promotion Center under the Board of Investment, which is responsible for evaluating proposed investments in domestic hotels, conference centers and amusement parks, streamlining the investment application process, and even fast-tracking smaller items like renovations to plumbing and electrical systems.

Last July, Thailand created the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, situating it relatively high in the bureaucracy to facilitate communications between it and other departments and committees. Moving ahead, the TAT, which has more than 900 on staff as well as large numbers of contract workers, will be focusing more on developing domestic tourism. Originally established 45 years ago as a tourism-development taskforce, these days the TAT operates 17 overseas offices and has an annual budget of THB3 to 3.5 billion. Thailand's numbers of both domestic and foreign tourists have been growing steadily for years, and we expect the number of visitors to top the 10-million mark next year.

Another important reason for the success of Thailand's tourism industry is that it has continued to innovate. We organized the Visit Thailand Year 26 years ago to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the founding of Bangkok. Under that promotion, the first tour group to arrive in Thailand from any country received a grand reception at the airport featuring dragon and lion dances and a personal welcome from the head of the TAT. The promotion also offered a new theme every month to give visitors arriving in different months different experiences of Thailand. Since then, we have changed our promotional themes every couple of years, most recently to Amazing Thailand. Our neighbors-Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia-are all emulating our innovations.

Q: Many nations develop their domestic and foreign tourism markets simultaneously. And most, especially in the early stages of development, use the domestic market as a base. Thailand, however, has not followed this path. Can you tell us how Thailand was able to focus on the foreign market right from the outset? What does Thailand offer that other nations do not?

A: Actually, that's a misconception people have about Thailand's tourism industry. Take our forecasts for next year. We expect foreign tourism to be worth about THB340 billion compared to THB360 billion for domestic tourism. Thailand is just like many other nations in that it used domestic tourism as a means to improve the quality of facilities. Many of the activities local governments sponsor to attract international visitors originally targeted domestic tourists. They continued to refine these events until they reached international standards, at which point they began to promote them internationally.

Thailand also happens to sit in a fortuitous location on the Asian mainland, and in consequence was once the region's largest air-traffic transfer point. When the airport found itself unable to keep up with the volume of traffic, Singapore grabbed a big piece of the market. The government is now attempting to reverse this trend by building a second international airport and expanding the first international airport. Location aside, the 1700-year history of Thai civilization has long been a source of pride. The government has long promoted the preservation of cultural artifacts and practices to foster the growth of tourism. On the flip side, the success of the tourism industry has provided a great deal of money for cultural preservation and jobs for masters of traditional handicrafts. All in all, cultural development and the tourism industry have been a boon to one another.

Q: The TAT has been very successful abroad with its promotional campaigns and advertising. How does the TAT integrate all this? Does the TAT run different sorts of campaigns in different countries?

A: Once a year, the heads of the TAT's overseas offices travel back to Bangkok for an annual meeting, during which we discuss the coming year's trends in international tourism and look for countries that are producing increasing numbers of tourists. For example, next year our promotional campaigns will focus on Taiwan, Japan, mainland China, the UK, Italy, Russia and Eastern Europe-nations we see as having potential.

As for how we run our campaigns, take Taiwan as an example. We first divide the travel market into segments. We see MICE [a travel-industry acronym for Meetings, Incentive Travel, Conventions and Exhibitions] as the largest group of visitors from Taiwan next year, followed by golfers, people seeking medical treatment, younger travelers and families. Once we've decided on an objective, we target each market segment with promotions for the Thai tourism products we think will interest it, such as the "Put the Right Good with the Right Person" program. The campaigns themselves begin with the media. In July, for example, I invited a large group of journalists to Thailand to report on the post-SARS rebound in tourism. We then work on sales promotions with the airlines and travel agents.

In 2004, the focus of our promotional campaigns will be Unseen Treasures. The idea is to draw people who have been to Thailand before back for another visit.

Q: The travel industry is generally considered a "green industry," but it is also a very fragile industry that is easily impacted by international crises or epidemics. For example, the SARS outbreak this year caused a severe decline in tourism in many Asian nations. How does a country such as Thailand, where tourism is such an important part of the economy, deal with the industry's sensitivity to such issues?

A: Crises are often turning points for the travel industry. Let me use the East Asian financial crisis of a few years ago as an example. That crisis affected a number of Asian nations, battering their industries and causing their economies to plummet. The Thai government, however, was relatively unconcerned about tourism. In part, this was because tourism's fixed costs are lower than for heavy and light industry. But foreign tourists also benefited from the depreciation of the Thai baht from 20:1 to 42:1 versus the US dollar. We ran a major promotion campaign on this very point and the international tourism market exploded, providing Thailand with some economic support in the midst of the financial crisis.

While I must stress that economies and societies differ-and you can't talk about them as if they were the same-nonetheless, the principle of not putting all your eggs in one basket is universal. By distributing our tourism promotions evenly around the world, Thailand minimizes the impact of regional troubles on the industry. In Taiwan's case, most of its tourists are elderly Japanese travelers who have some link to Taiwan. The elderly have far less money to spend than honeymooners, business travelers, or working people on their vacations. I would suggest that as Taiwan begins to develop its international tourism market, it should avoid focusing too much on just one segment of the market or one region.

Q: Visitors to Thailand have long had a positive impression of its goodwill towards tourists and its outstanding public security. How does one create this kind of environment?

A: I'm glad you asked about that because its one of the things about which Thailand's tourism industry is most proud. The work of the TAT doesn't consist of only international promotion campaigns. Another important aspect of our work is to teach Thais how to be good hosts. I myself often give talks to airline workers, food-and-beverage workers and students. We also run ads on TV that remind Thais to treat foreign visitors like family. The ads cover a number of topics, such as how to provide help in a friendly and appropriate manner to a tourist who asks directions in a language you don't understand. With the ads, we also want people to understand that a foreign tourist is more to Thailand than just an important source of foreign currency; we want them to realize that a tourist might become a personal friend or an ambassador abroad for Thailand.

These kinds of campaigns have been useful. Thailand is now known around the world for its hospitality towards tourists. The ads have also shaped a broad, pro-tourist consensus within Thai society. Thailand's tourist security system isn't limited to the government; every Thai citizen gladly helps ensure the safety of visitors.

Chiang Mai draws tourists with its remarkably pleasant climate and with its elephants, which used to transport lumber.