TAT turns to Facebook and Twitter to promote tourism

The Tourism Authority of Thailand is turning to using social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook to reach out to tourists and spread awareness about Thailand’s tourism offerings, reports the Bangkok Post today. TAT believes this new model will become an important marketing tool for the country. It will also be using blogs and other social networking portals besides the popular Facebook and Twitter sites.

Using social networking is attractive because of the high returns it tends to generate on low promotional costs. The Bangkok Post says TAT found better-than-expected results for its first such project, the Ultimate Thailand Explorers, which generated 7.89 million viewers in as little as eight weeks. By the time the project wraps up in February, TAT is expecting 25 million viewers to have seen the promotion.

The promotion had invited travellers to post video clips about what they would do, if given a chance to visit Thailand. Visitors to the project put in 356 video clips in the eight-week time period. The contest was further promoted by 576,000 articles and blogs on the Internet.

Five winning-couples of the Ultimate Thailand Explorers campaign will be given six-day tour packages to visit five destinations in Thailand, including Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket and Pattaya. In addition, the contestants who will attract the most viewers for their videos form the tour will be awarded US$15,000.

For the next year, TAT has set a 35 million-baht budget to promote the country’s tourism online. TAT spent 15 million baht on online promotion this year, apart from the 18.5 million baht invested in the Ultimate Thailand Explorers promotion.

More promotions along the same lines are being planned in languages like Japanese and French, and the TAT also plans to expand the destinations included in its promotional packages.