Thailand shares real-time in-sights

Connecting 48 exhibitors from Thailand with over 250 buyers from the GCC for a whole day of networking sessions at the first-ever ‘Amazing Thailand Virtual Roadshow’ which concluded recently, showed the interest and confidence of the travellers. Some exhibitors and agents shared their comments with TRAVTALK.

Sellers

Jidapa (Jill) Niladhanadhon, Director of Business Development, Veranda Resort & Villas Hua Hin Cha Am – MGallery, Veranda High Resort Chiang Mai – MGallery, Veranda Resort Pattaya Na Jomtien – MGallery

Overall, it was a great event for buyers and sellers. The virtual mart site looked like a real exhibition which gave the feeling of being present at the real event. The buyers were around, some came as per appointment, some didn’t but came later and some did walk-in. We had two representatives with 18 meetings. The buyers showed positive sentiment of travelling opportunity soon for both business (healthcare) and leisure. Our specific point of contact (SPOC) was around prior and during the event.

Karuna Amarnath, Senior Director of Sales, Four Seasons Resorts Thailand Koh Samui

Overall experience is great as we are able to meet new prospect accounts from Middle East market during this event. On the good side at this event, clients were able to visit our booth and download documents/ sales resources directly from our page. We were able to update the latest news on the situation in the GCC countries on covid and movement with their region at this event which was really helpful for us. SPOC’s  role was excellent and he was  very helpful during the event.

Buyers

George Joseph, Holidays Manager, Trinity Travel UAE

The Amazing Thailand Virtual Roadshow 2020 was a great experience. It was very simple to manoeuvre without any hindrance to all the booths, chat and even speak to the sellers. The video/ audio chats were highly commendable. We exchanged views and connected with ease. The Tourism Authority of Thailand presentations in the session hall were very well highlighted and had a great wealth of information.

Muhammad Idrees, Manager – Saudi Wings Holidays – Riyadh KSA

The Amazing Thailand Virtual Roadshow was great. Destination Thailand is very popular among the Middle Eastern travellers. It is a very diversified destination. The show was very useful as I connected with 30 suppliers and gained knowledge about the destination, especially high-end luxury products. Overall, coordination was up to the mark.

Sapna Aidasani, Marketing Manager, Pluto Travels

I can rate my overall experience as 8 out of 10. The virtual set-up of the expo, especially the screen right in front of the virtual exhibition hall gave me an impression of being almost present at the expo. Exhibitors were listed clearly and access to all the exhibition booths was easy. People are itching to travel, and I see a demand for detox holidays growing in the coming season. My clients prefer to stay in the individual/boutique property with less crowd.  They want to travel to a destination, which is preferably three to four hours by flight. Overall, the entire expo was well coordinated.

Aga Pytlik, General Manager, Pan World Travel Tourism

In our profession of travel and tourism, we always ‘bond’, therefore regardless of challenging situations and difficulties, we always find ways to stay connected. Thanks to the organisers and exhibitors, I got the opportunity to participate in the Amazing Thailand Virtual Roadshow. It was great to connect and re-connect again with partners from the hospitality and travel industry to plan the next step of collaboration and learn more about local products. The roadshow proved to be very beneficial; local partners were open to discussing the B2B offers and sharing information relative to re-opening the destination with terms and conditions. I was able to connect with more than 15 exhibitors via direct conversation, chats and exchanging the contact details for future collaboration; all this was possible due to full technical support and supervision by the organisers. The list of the exhibitors was impressive, and I believe each travel agent could find suitable partners based on the company portfolio.

Darl Bugarin, Orbit Travel and Tours, Doha Branch

The Thailand roadshow was amazing because we got the opportunity to meet with partners during the special virtual event.  I managed to attend almost 30 booths from 8:30am until 5:30pm. I got to know a lot more about the Asia market from the exhibitors. It was a very well organised and excellent show as during this time when you cannot physically connect with outbound tourism destinations, technology enables us to connect with them with a show of this nature.

Janet Moses, Tour Consultant, Al Tayer Holidays

The event was very well organised and I was able to reach out to suppliers. Also, I have received replies from most of the suppliers via emails. It was very good to connect considering the COVID situation. Both business and leisure at the moment are super slow as the borders are closed. While the latest travel data reflects the dire situation that we face, it is very useful when speaking with our business clients about their urgent needs. We also know that real-time insights are critical to detecting shifts in traveller behaviour and sentiment so that we can plan appropriately for the future. I liked the user-friendly site and the meeting was rescheduled according to my convenience. Overall, the event was good and very useful.

Inputs by Shehara Rizly