TripAdvisor, where travellers review their trips and/or hospitality facilities, has quickly become a massive force where IT and the travel and hospitality industry collide. In that context it is crucial for destinations to tackle visitors' as well as potential visitors' perceptions in order to raise awareness and create customer loyalty.
The last day of January 2014 brings good news to the tourism world with Thailand chosing to become fully transparent to TripAdvisor, people who plan on going to this country will be more informed. It is stated that "the official Tourism Authority of Thailand" will be directly linked through TripAdvisor. The idea is to enhance the experience of the tourists visting Thailand, having them leave clear reviews online for others to come. the TAT Governor hopes that it will help the people choose the place that will fit them the most, and then recommend the country to their relatives, in order to enhance the tourism development in Thailand.
The article states the following :"TAT Governor Thawatchai Arunyik said, “Travellers all over the world enjoy the luxury of choice, but finding the best places and products at the best value for money can be a challenging exercise. Our link-up with TripAdvisor will allow visitors to make smart decisions about how best to enjoy a holiday in Thailand within the framework of their time and budget availability.”"
The traffic on TripAdvisor, about 400,000 Internet surfers per day, should be a large source of advertisement for Thailand, and being fully transparent about the trips done in their country seems to be the best strategic choice to bring more people in. "TripAdvisor will become a clickable link on the popular tourismthailand.org website, which has become the first source of information and reference [...]". This will force the industry to modernize to meet people's expectation and create customer loyalty. The current situation in some place in Thailand, where either the industry doesn't necessarily meet all the Western standards in terms of quality and/or the current social and political unrest might for now be a downside to the expected development of tourism, because it might lead to bad reviews and put some businesses in difficulty. Reaching higher standards in the Thai hospitality and service industry is a necessary step towards tourism development in Thailand, but according to Mr. Thawatchai, they are ready to make the efforts: "Hence, this becomes a very valuable business tool, which will certainly a go long way towards raising the level of customer satisfaction and winning repeat visitors for Thailand at large.”.
It seems clear that the objective of this agreement is to make Thailand the new "place to be" of Southern Asia. The Thai are proud of their culture, and want to become more visible to the globalized world.
Source link: http://www.traveldailynews.asia/news/article/54686/tourism-authority-of-thailand-website
Images links: http://nickshell1983.wordpress.com/2011/06/13/ashley-cant-get-over-bentley-in-phuket-thailand-ashley-hebert-the-bachelorette-episode-4/
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/24/us-thailand-protest-idUSBRE9AN09Q20131124
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