Visit India 2023 aims to attract more Thai citizens

At least 15 groups of Thai tourists are set to head to Kashmir and Ladakh when the long Thai New Year holidays begin this month.

This yatra is in line with India Year 2023, which was announced by Tourism Minister G. Kishan Reddy on the sidelines of the G-20 meeting. He said that the main objective is to promote India as a 365-day destination.

And so the Indian Embassy in Thailand organized an “Incredible India Tourism Meet” in Bangkok with the specific objective of conveying this message.

With India and Thailand completing 75 years of diplomatic relations, the newly arrived Indian Ambassador to Thailand Nagesh Singh is determined to increase the number of Thai tourists in India.

While two million Indian tourists visited Thailand, Thai tourists numbered 52,000, many of them focusing on the Buddhist circuit.

“It’s an embarrassing number,” Mr Singh pointedly said at the meeting, which was attended by leading tour operators.

The ambassador talked about the “wealth of experiences” Thai tourists can enjoy in India, being introduced to 40 World Heritage Sites and many new and diverse routes.

The tourism meet had a post-Covid-style ‘hybrid’ format, where a live audience in Bangkok listened to India’s online presentations.

Madhya Pradesh and JK Tourism Boards made excellent presentations.

JK Tourism Board talked about several trekking routes, offbeat trails and world class golfing greens which have not been promoted before. While everyone knew about the winter attractions of Kashmir, mention was made of the state’s various adventure sports opportunities in summer.

Glad to learn from IATA that “responsible tourism” was a topic of discussion with a new focus on community tourism, eco-tourism and carbon footprint reduction. He said that cleanliness has become a big priority post COVID, which is very important to promote India as a 365 days destination.

One heard that apart from 43 famous tourist places in the country, work is going on for 20 others. Announcements will undoubtedly be made during the Bharat Yatra 2023.

Thai travel agents said the increase in air connectivity to India, with more than 400 flights, was the most important factor for the high tourist traffic between the two countries.

With India lifting Covid restrictions, top travel companies such as Express Travels said it was a good time for Thais to visit India, which is why April traffic in India was good for the country.

Had a meeting with Vikram Mazumdar of ‘Trinity Tours’ from Delhi who had specially flown in for this tourism meet. He said Thailand was a top destination for Indians because of the visa-on-arrival system. He said that he is now keen to promote more Indian destinations for the Thai market.

Wachira Wichaivatana, vice-president of the Thai Travel Agents Association, suggested that more Indian travel agents from India should participate in Bangkok’s major travel fairs, as they attracted a large number of travel-crazy Thai consumers.

The Vice President of Thailand Tourism Council, Suthipong Phanphiphop, suggested that if India introduces a visa-free policy like Japan and Taiwan, many more Thai tourists would come to the country.

Interestingly, K Karn of Rinnaya Travel Company noted that many Thai people have started visiting Hindu religious places. He mentioned the temples of Tirupati, Madurai and Ramanathapuram as examples.

The tourism meet was impressed by the presence of airlines like Indigo, Vistara and GoFirst.

IndiGo has a strong presence in Thailand with daily flights to Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru, and will add Bhubaneshwar to its next schedule. After Kovid the load factor is almost full.

Vistara started flights to Thailand in 2019 and it is their third international destination after Singapore and Dubai. They fly to Delhi and Mumbai, from where Thai tourists can take connecting flights to other cities in India.

GoFirst has direct flights from Bangalore to Phuket, and attracts Thais and other foreign tourists from the globally popular beach destination to India.

It was also interesting to meet some Thai social media influencers who are avid Indophiles.

Nattakan Thongsila’s Let’s Go India blog has nearly 20,000 followers, and she also advises and organizes trips to India, especially for solo women.

Bossini Nicci is obsessed with everything Indian, from food to movies, and makes regular visits to India, all of which is loved by her 100,000 followers.

one certainly hopes India Tour 2023 The launch of this month will provide a much needed boost to Thai tourists in the country.

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