TAT suspends ad blitz as Bangkok protests take a turn for the worse

Juthaporn Rerngronasa, TAT deputy governor marketing for Europe, Africa, Middle East and America, said: ?At present, there is no point spending on reviving Thailand?s image, but we are likely to resume our media campaign in September.?

TAT had been allocated a 500 million baht (US$15.45 million) budget under the Thai government?s Strong Thailand campaign in January to repair the country?s dented image, following the Bangkok airport closures in December 2008 and riots in April 2009.

But Juthaporn said the TAT would continue to spend its regular budget on fam trips, tradeshows and promotions of other Thai destinations and areas in Bangkok that are unaffected by the current protests.

Fifty agents and media from the Middle East are joining a May 18 to 24 TAT-hosted fam to Chiang Mai, Koh Samui and Phuket. The annual Thailand Travel Mart Plus 2010 will still be held in Bangkok from June 2 to 4.

The TAT also plans to lobby the government to ease visa regulations for potential markets such as Morocco, Tunisia and CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries to offset the decline from traditional source markets, Juthaporn added.