POLAND is proving to be the new Russia and IT&CMA sellers are making a beeline for the record number of 27 Polish buyers who are present at the show this year.
Virat Chatturaputpitak, managing director, Marwin Tours (Thailand), said: “In the past, most Polish groups came to Thailand for leisure. Nowadays most are on incentive programmes.”
Marwin Tours has three to four Polish incentive groups this year, each with 100-500 delegates, staying six to seven nights.
Polish incentives are also growing for Thailand’s Creative Destination Management (CDM), which is handling 10 groups from Poland this year, up from five groups two years ago.
For Suwadee Pachariyangkun, managing director of Universal Travel Link & Services Thailand, the Polish incentive market is as big as the Russian incentive market. “We started tapping Poland last year and have already scored 10 groups,” she said.
Indonesia is also eyeing Polish incentive groups. Smailing Tours is handling three incentive groups from the market this year and has four to six potential ones lined up for 2012, while Bali DMC Plus has three confirmed groups in 2012.
Explaining Poland’s strong outbound incentive potential, Andrzej Tkaczow, office & sales director of Warsaw-based Luxury Travel, said the country was not affected by the financial crisis in Europe. “Even though Poland is part of the European Union, it has its own currency (the Polish zloty),” he said.
Thailand is favoured during the winter months of October to March, while Bali is hot from June to August, as it escapes the Asian monsoon season, according to Tkaczow.
- Read more in IT&CMA and CTW Asia-Pacific Official Daily - Day 3 issue
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