Organised by Amway India Enterprise Pvt Ltd, the event was held at the Centara Grand & Bangkok Convention Centre at CentralWorld after the organisers were assured that the peaceful democratic protests taking place in Thailand would not affect either the proceedings or the numerous tours.
As a result, all the delegates and accompanying persons attended the event which went off successfully with a variety of conference and leisure activities at the integrated Bangkok Convention Centre, on the 22nd floor of the hotel, convention centre and lifestyle complex.
Amway, founded in 1959, is one of the world’s largest direct selling companies, and operates in more than 80 countries and territories. Its Indian division is a major producer of incentives and conventions, with Thailand being an especially popular destination.
Mr. Suraphon Svetasreni, Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), said “We would like to compliment Amway India for their vote of confidence in us, especially because the event was scheduled for Bangkok. The fact that it went off without a hitch is a plus-point in terms of backing our reassurance that the travel trade worldwide has nothing to fear from continuing to send guests and clients to Thailand.”
India is one of six countries which generates more than one million annual visitor arrivals to Thailand. It is the biggest source market for visitors from South Asia and one of fastest growing markets.
In 2012, Indian visitors totalled 1.01 million, up 11% over 2011. Of this total, 85% were holiday visitors and 5.21% were MICE visitors. In view of the free trade agreements between India and both Thailand and ASEAN, many Indian businesspeople are also coming to attend exhibitions; such as, those in gems and jewellery, agriculture and information technology sectors.
Indian visitors have an average daily expenditure of USD170 per person per day over an average length of stay of 7.15 days.
In January – October 2013, Indian visitors to Thailand totalled 869,659, up 4.18% over the same period of 2012. TAT is expecting 1.11 million Indian visitors in 2013.
In addition to normal leisure travellers and group tours, the Indian tourists include growing numbers of families, wedding celebrations and honeymooners, golfers, upmarket women travellers, film crews and MICE delegates. Indian travellers are also venturing beyond the usual Bangkok-Pattaya route favoured by first-time travellers and heading for Krabi, Samui, Phuket, Khao Yai, Hua Hin, Ko Chang, Chiang Mai and Ayutthaya.
Other major contributing factors are the extensive airline connections between Thailand and India, and the visa-on-arrival facilities for Indian citizens at Thailand’s international aviation gateways.
TAT has two offices in India (New Delhi and Mumbai) and representative offices in secondary cities; such as, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Pune, etc.
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