Acting Governor of Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Mrs. Juthaporn Rerngronasa addressed a media briefing at the Thailand Travel Mart Plus 2015 (TTM+ 2015) which was held last week in Bangkok. Mrs. Rerngronasa said that in comparison to Thailand’s neighbors which focus on “quantity” of visitor arrivals, with their latest marketing campaign “Discover Thainess”, they will focus on high-spending, long-staying niche-markets; such as, health and wellness, weddings and honeymoons, culinary tourism, marine tourism and more.
She also informed that according to the Master Card Global Destination Cities Index Ranking, Bangkok has retained its position as the top city destination in the Asia-Pacific and the world’s second top city destination.
Mrs Juthaporn also noted that to prepare for the anticipated growth, the Airports of Thailand PLC is expanding three of Thailand’s key aviation gateways. The expansion at Bangkok’s main gateway, Suvarnabhumi Airport will almost double its annual handling capacity to 80 million passengers per year by 2020 while the renovation at Don Mueang International Airport, which handles low-cost airlines, will bring its annual capacity to 30 million by this year. In addition, Phuket International Airport is being expanded to more than double its annual capacity to 12.5 million passengers by 2016, she said.
