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Chairman of the OAS Inter-American Committee on Tourism (CITUR) and Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett sees the need for an effective regional airline to boost tourism in the Caribbean.
His call came at Wednesday’s opening session of the Organisation of American States (OAS) High-Level Policy Forum to discuss ways to safeguard the region’s tourism sector from disruptions, including a looming recession. It is being held at the Holiday Inn 20-21 July 2022 with nearly 200 participants on location and virtually.
The two-day event is being held under the theme: Building the Resilience of Small Tourism Enterprises (STE) in the Caribbean to Disasters with expectations that it will provide tools for managing disruptions, including those of the climatic and economic type.
Organised in collaboration with the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA), the forum of Ministers of Tourism, Permanent Secretaries and other high-ranking policy-makers is giving priority attention to the needs of small tourism enterprises.
Minister Bartlett said the forum had paved the way for a serious discussion on the future of tourism as a real driver of economic development in the Caribbean and as an instrument for inclusive growth and “it has also paved the way for a reimagining of the tourism protocols and re-establishment of the key national imperatives of enabling freedom of movement within the Caribbean area.”ADVERTISEMENTThe CITUR Chairman said “at the heart of the freedom of movement is a transportation policy that would allow for regional carriers to develop and for movement also in terms of border controls.”
In this regard he said a regional visa regime was being explored, adding, “if we are to build Caribbean tourism, recognizing that as individual states we’re too small to grow and to benefit from the recovery of tourism as it now stands but together as a region we can grow and we can benefit in many ways.” These included multi-destination tourism in which a visa regime is a must and a common airspace.
“Rationalize the airspace so that airlines flying into the Caribbean pay one fee and it allows them to travel through the airspaces of the other countries,” he said. Also, there would be pre-clearing arrangements allowing for visitors coming into the region and have tourism visas to clear customs in Jamaica and enjoy domestic status in the other islands.
Mr Bartlett said this would bring more airlines into the space as turnaround time would be significantly reduced. Another advantage would be multiple experiences for visitors from long haul destinations. He said the Caribbean airline would facilitate having multi-destinations with visitors booking one package at one price from which all would benefit.
Asserting that tourism has been the mainstay of the Caribbean economic development in the last 40 years, Minister Bartlett said more than 90 percent were small, medium and micro enterprises, and 80 percent globally. With those statistics, he wondered why it had taken so long to be making this focus on building the capacity of these enterprises to pivot and recover swiftly and thrive after disruptions.
He identified three key factors that he said small and medium tourism enterprises had to come to grips with, namely; building capacity for knowledge through training and development, financing that allowed for small enterprises to scale up in quality and consistency, and effective marketing.
Also, faced with the unprecedented impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, he said small enterprises had to rebuild to be able to identify and forecast disruptions, to mitigate against them, to be able to manage them and to recover as quickly as possible.
The policy forum also has on its agenda discussions on issues such as the barriers and challenges facing small tourism enterprises, crisis communication, business continuity planning tools and the establishment of Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT).
World Travel Awards Caribbean & The Americas Gala Ceremony 2022 will be taking place at Sandals Montego Bay on 31 August 2022 with the tourism leaders of the region in attendance.

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The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is strengthening Thailand’s presence as the preferred tourist destination among Middle East travellers to drive interest in returning to Thailand in the post COVID-19 situation. This has come about through the recent participation in the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2022, latest partnerships with Qatar Airways and Almosafer – one of the region’s top three largest online travel agents, and a number of marketing and promotional activities. 
TAT led a Thai delegation that included 18 hotels, three hospitals, two travel agencies and one theme park to participate in the ATM 2022, held on 9-12 May, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Across the four-day event, the Thai delegation had on average 128 business appointments each, or over 3,000 sessions combined. This is expected to boost tourism from the Middle East market to Thailand, and generate about one billion Baht income for 2022.
Mr. Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya, TAT Deputy Governor for International Marketing – Europe, Africa, Middle East and Americas, said, “The interest in returning to Thailand is on the rise, and this is certainly a sign that the market was recovering quickly after the COVID-19 situation. Thailand’s focus at the ATM 2022 was on doing business with the upper market segment, such as families, medical treatment groups, and the new sector of women travelling on their own for shopping, beauty treatments, and other such activities.”
At the ATM 2022, TAT cooperated with Qatar Airways in launching a special sales promotion aimed at boosting travel to Thailand from mid-May to June 2022, among travellers from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait. The two parties were also in talks on partnering in a global campaign to encourage travellers from Europe attending the 2022 FIFA World Cup from 21 November-18 December to visit Thailand after the competition. A memorandum of cooperation on this is expected to be signed in October.ADVERTISEMENTMeanwhile at the ATM 2022, TAT introduced a tourist promotion campaign in cooperation with the Dubai Police Privilege Card or Esaad Card, a loyalty programme for government employees under the Dubai Police. Special discounts on goods and services at over 300 locations in Thailand – predominantly hotels, hospitals, spas, department stores, and tourist attractions – will be on offer to 240,000 Esaad cardholders.
During the last week’s mission to the Middle East, TAT also took the opportunity to enhance its presence in the Saudi Arabia market through the signing of a memorandum of cooperation (MOC) with Almosafer, the largest online travel agency (OTA) in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, as well as one of the top three largest OTAs in the Middle East and Northern Africa.
The MOC signing ceremony on 15 May between TAT’s Mr. Chattan and Almosafer’s Executive Vice President Mr. Muzammil Ahussain was witnessed by H.E. Mr. Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, Thailand’s Minister of Tourism and Sports.
The agreement between TAT and Almosafer is to boost tourism between Thailand and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. The main goal is to promote and develop quality tourism experiences in Thailand for visitors from the GCC with a focus on key niche markets like sports tourism, luxury tourism, and health and wellness tourism. Thailand is a popular destination among GCC travellers, particularly those from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait where it ranks in the top five and top nine international destinations, respectively. 
The signing of the MOC between TAT and Almosafer comes after 9 March, 2022, when Saudi Arabia began to allow its nationals to once again visit Thailand. Almosafer said since then it had experienced a huge growth in interest for travel to Thailand from Saudi Arabia with searches for Thailand’s tourism information on its website up over 470% from January 2022, and up over 1,100% in the first two weeks of May when compared to the first quarter of 2022.
Before the COVID-19 situation, more than 533,000 tourists from the Middle East visited Thailand each year, generating over 41.3 billion Baht in tourism revenue. Travellers from the Middle East are considered among the most high-spending groups with an average trip expenditure of 75,000 Baht per person. Normally travelling in a large group of family, they usually visit Thailand during July and August. From the region, the largest source markets to Thailand are the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar.
Tourism Authority of Thailand is considered Asia’s Leading Cultural Destination 2021 by World Travel Awards.

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The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with Thai Airways International (THAI) and THAI Smile Airways (THAI Smile) to stimulate tourism growth from India, which is one of Thailand’s important source market for visitor arrivals.
At today’s signing ceremony held at THAI’s Headquarters in Bangkok witnessed by Mr. Suvadhana Sibunruang, THAI Acting Chief Executive Officer; Mr. Viset Sontichai, THAI Smile Acting Chief Executive Officer, and Mr. Napintorn Srisunpang, Vice Minister of Tourism and Sports, the agreement was signed between Mr. Nond Kalinta, THAI Chief Commercial Officer and Mr. Tanes Petsuwan, TAT Deputy Governor for International Marketing – Asia and South Pacific.

Mr. Napintorn Srisunpang, Vice Minister of Tourism and Sports, said, “Following the materialisation of the Thai-Indian Air Travel Bubble arrangement and the reopening of commercial flights between India and Thailand, this latest agreement between TAT and THAI and THAI Smile will certainly help accelerate the planned recovery of the Indian market, which is an important source market for visitor arrivals from South Asia to Thailand.”
Mr. Suvadhana Sibunruang, THAI Acting Chief Executive Officer, said the agreement will see THAI and THAI Smile cooperating with TAT on the recovery marketing efforts and joint promotions as well as offering privileges to travellers on over 30 flights a week between India and Thailand on six round-trip routes:
Bangkok-New Delhi 14 flights a week (THAI);
Bangkok-Mumbai 7 flights a week (THAI);
Bangkok-Chennai 7 flights a week (THAI);
Bangkok-Bengaluru 7 flights a week (THAI);
Bangkok-Kolkata 7 flights a week (THAI Smile) starting 11 April 2022;
Bangkok-Phuket-Mumbai 7 flights a week (THAI Smile) starting 10 April 2022.

THAI is planning to expand the summer 2022 network with 34 additional routes covering cities in Asia, Australia and Europe, and is also considering increasing the frequency of existing flights in response to the anticipated growth in demand. Passengers on THAI’s international routes will be able to connect domestically within Thailand using THAI Smile’s services.
At TAT, this latest agreement with THAI and THAI Smile forms part of the overall recovery marketing efforts in response to the materialisation of the Thai-Indian Air Travel Bubble arrangement since February, in which TAT plans to join hands with airlines to help enhance the image of Thailand as the preferred destination for Indians wanting to travel abroad.
Mr. Tanes Petsuwan, TAT Deputy Governor for International Marketing – Asia and South Pacific, said, “TAT is moving forward with our pro-active strategy to rebuild and maintain Thailand’s position as a top destination for Indian travellers. Working closely with THAI and THAI Smile, which operate multiple Thailand-India flight routes, is a key factor in our strategy.
“In line with the ‘Visit Thailand Year 2022: Amazing New Chapters’ campaign, the focus is on attracting high-spending special interest groups by working with celebrities and influencers to attract weddings and honeymoons, luxury, and millennials.”

Mr. Tanes explained ongoing marketing activities in the Indian market through the TAT New Delhi and Mumbai Offices included working closely with the local travel and tourism industry on updating travel advisors and operators on existing and new tourism offerings in Thailand, as well as the safety measures and relaxed entry requirements in place, offering joint promotions and special privileges in conjunction with the THAI and THAI Smile flights, offering joint promotions aimed at the luxury market, and the holding together with airlines of networking sessions in key cities to further promote Thailand’s tourism appeal.
To promote Thailand as a wedding and honeymoon destination for the Indian market, TAT is organising an Amazing Thailand Wedding EXPO 2022 this month to boost travellers from the segment.TAT will also head-up Thailand’s presence at India’s largest tourism promotion event – South Asia Travel and Tourism Exchange (SATTE) 2022 – scheduled for 18-20 May in New Delhi.ADVERTISEMENTAs efforts by TAT and others to rebuild the Indian market grow, based on the load factor of the current flights operated by THAI and THAI Smile between Thailand and India, it is expected at least 13,000 Indian tourists will visit Thailand per month. This estimate does not include Indian tourists using other airlines.
In 2019, a total of 1,995,516 Indians travelled to Thailand generating tourism income of 86,372.01 million Baht. In term of arrivals, this represented a growth of 24.85%, and in income a growth of 27.45%.

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