The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has launched a new blog contest to promote medical tourism. It wants bloggers experienced in writing on the subject of either tourism, medical or/and medical tourism for a medical blog contest. A first prize is $10,000 in cash with a further $3,000 in hotel vouchers.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has launched a new blog contest to promote medical tourism. It wants bloggers experienced in writing on the subject of either tourism, medical or/and medical tourism for a medical blog contest. A first prize is $10,000 in cash with a further $3,000 in hotel vouchers. Criteria to be amongst the twelve finalists will include; an ability to demonstrate knowledge of medical tourism and/or medical tourism in Thailand, innovative ideas for promoting a medical tourism blog, and the ability to show enthusiasm.
Between the 20th of November and the 26th of November, finalists will be treated to a luxury, all-inclusive seven-day medical tourism familiarisation trip. Finalists will travel either to Phuket, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, Koh Samui or Bangkok. During their times at these destinations they will receive familiarisation tours of hospitals and healthcare facilities. And they will enjoy special trips and excursions, put on by TAT, to help them both experience and better understand the many and diverse attractions Thailand has to offer as a world class tourist destination.
Whilst staying in Thailand they will have to write a blog of their daily experiences using stories, photos and videos. The goal for the contestants is to inform a global audience about the facilities available, for any prospective visitor. The blogger should also engage a reader’s interest sufficiently for them to want to seek out further information relating to medical tourism within Thailand. The overall winner must look to attract the highest number of visitors to their blog site. And they will also be judged on the accuracy, quality, clarity and persuasiveness of their blog.
Thailand has embarked on an aggressive digital campaign to win back tourists who were discouraged by reports of political violence in the country this year. It has also identified a new target market of retirees to whom it wants to market specialised, transparent and simple packages that include medical and wellness tourism. Meanwhile, tourism continues to grow. In the first half of this year, Asian countries contributed the largest number of foreign tourists, followed by East Asia, non-Scandinavian Europe and Scandinavia.
According to TAT, Thailand currently gets 920,000 travelers visiting the kingdom annually as medical tourists. The often-quoted larger figure of 1.4 million is medical tourists and other non-nationals, that includes business and holiday travelers and expatriates. The largest group coming for medical tourism is from the Middle East with UAE at 44% of the total, followed by Qatar 9% and Oman 6% and less from Bahrain and Kuwait.
TAT has also launched a new website ThailandMedTourism.com, to provide information on surgical procedures, health service providers, packages and promotions, destinations, and up to date articles and news. TAT has set ambitious targets for future arrivals. As part of their overall marketing strategy, in order to achieve these targets, the new website is designed to bring together a whole range of information to assist prospective visitors. Medical treatments available are listed and also explained. Each treatment carries a general description along with information relating to the length of treatment or surgery, benefits, ideal candidates, planning, preparation, recovery and potential risks, complications and side effects.
TAT is undertaking a proactive and interesting approach, with the aim of increasing current revenue to $2 billion annually, and reviving Thailand’s rather battered global reputation.