The Tourism Authority of Thailand’s Stockholm Office has launched its first website specifically to promote health and wellness travel to Thailand, especially by Swedish women and senior citizens.
Ageing populations and changing lifestyles are contributing to a growing demand for health and wellness solutions, with a specific focus on prevention, maintenance and cure.
This means that vacations for rest and recreation are being accompanied by breakouts for yoga, meditation, spa treatments and spirituality.
According to Mrs Nalinee Pananon, TAT Stockholm Office Director, ”As a Buddhist country, Thailand is well-known for its beautiful temples, retreats and high-class spas.
”As such, we are taking this opportunity to promote Thailand as the world’s leading country for spiritual and physical health. Key target markets are families and career women aged 30 plus.”
The idea of setting up the website emerged after the TAT organised a media familiarisation trip under the theme, ‘Body & Soul Retreat.’
The media participants reported extensively on the broad range of Thai health and wellness products, facilities and services.
Articles appeared in popular magazines such as Cosmopolitan Norway, Cosmopolitan Sweden, Allt om Resor, Topphalsa and Voi Hyvin.
After generating the high level of interest, it was a logical next step for the TAT to help potential health and wellness travellers get more detailed information.
As such, the website is broken down into categories such as: Body & Soul; Live philosophy; Medical Tourism; Active vacation, and tips from travellers.
These categories include more details on Thai spas, yoga classes, meditation, detox, dental treatments, foot massage, and opportunities for physical activity.
More categories are to be added after evaluation of the feedback.
Said Mrs Nalinee, ”In the Scandinavian countries, active vacations are as important a part of well-being as meditation and the pursuit of mental peace. In the latter category, visitors can also undertake temple tours and classes on Buddhism.”
Arrivals from Sweden have been growing strongly over the years. In 2011, visitor arrivals from Sweden were up 5.88 percent to 369,144.
Their daily expenditure per person per day was 3,619 baht (US$118) with an average length of stay of 18 days. Females comprised 42 percent of the total, 78 percent were repeat visitors and 89 percent FIT travellers.
In January-October 2012, Swedish visitor arrivals totalled 256,132, a decline of 5.36 percent over the same period of 2011.
As of November 2012, there were seven direct scheduled flights per week between Bangkok and Stockholm operated by THAI Airways International.
For further details, check out www.amazingwellness.se
