Thailand Travel Mart 2017 ends successful two-year run in Chiang Mai, moves to Pattaya in 2018

Thailand Travel Mart 2017 has ended a successful two-year run in the northern capital of Chiang Mai, and will move to the resort city of Pattaya next year. The event was attended by 423 buyers from 56 countries. Although the main markets of China, India, Russia, Europe and the UK dominated the list, the focus on buyers from the eastern European countries, Latin America and South Africa. Moreover, first-time buyers comprised 47.8 per cent of the total. The theme “Delivering Unique Experiences” was designed to be in line with the overall tourism marketing slogan. All the pre and post-tours were specially selected to include the spectacular range of Royal Projects, Northern Thai museums, restaurants, community-based products and heritage sites in line with that theme. This year, the show was attended by 362 sellers from Thailand and the neighbouring Mekong countries, the vast majority of whom were small & medium sized hotels and boutique resorts emerging by the dozens all over the country. Giving exposure to these SMEs, most of whom cannot afford to attend the large global travel trade events, is  a primary objective of the TTM+.
The first knowledge-transfer session was held on the first day, led by Minister Kobkarn on community-based tourism. She was followed by speakers talking on crisis management, culinary tourism and the digital economy.
On the third day, around 600 participants from travel & tourism training institutes and entrepreneurs in Chiang Mai benefitted from a day-long seminar series by TAT executives and some of Thailand’s leading private sector executives on market trends.
One of the key highlights of the event was a showcase of indigenous products reflecting the best of Northern Thai culture, arts and heritage. Yuthasak Supasorn, Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), commented, “I would like to thank all the buyers, sellers, media, the local provincial officials and tourism industry of Chiang Mai, and all Ministry and TAT staff and team members for a highly successful event.
“The two years of being held in Chiang Mai have given a major boost to travel & tourism in Chiang Mai and will help us better diversify our visitors all around the country and the neighbouring regions. I also believe this has been a great preparatory step towards hosting the prestigious ASEAN Tourism Forum, also at the same venue in January 2018.”