• The Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards for “The Best City in Asia”
• The Best NTO TTG Travel Awards 2007
• The Australian Society of Travel Writers “Travel Journalism Awards for Excellence 2007 for “The Best International Tourism Organization”

The City of Bangkok earned the award “Best City in Asia,” for the seventh year in a row in the 2007 Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards. Chiang Mai took home the third-place award in the same category, while Phuket Island ranked third in the "Best Island in Asia" category.

Three of the ten "Best Hotels in Asia" are also located in Thailand, all in Bangkok: The Oriental, The Peninsula and Shangri-La. Four Thailand resorts placed in "The Top 10 Asia Resorts" category, including Banyan Tree in Phuket, Four Seasons in Chiang Mai, Mandarin Oriental Dhara Devi in Chiang Mai, and Amanpuri in Phuket. Other Thai properties such as The Sukhothai, Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit, Four Seasons, Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel & Towers, JW Marriott and Conrad ranked in the "Top 75 Asia Hotels" category. More than five hundred thousands readers participated in the annual poll to vote for their favourite cities, hotels, cruises and more. Winners are featured in the November 2007 issue of Condé Nast.

Prior to attending the award presentation ceremony, TAT Governor Phornsiri Manoharn participated in the Top Travel Specialist 2007 panel discussion during which panellists offered their insights on global tourism trends, especially sustainable tourism development. Some 200 travel specialists attended the event.

Thailand’s participation at a high profile event significantly raised the visibility and awareness of Thailand as a world-class destination among American travel trade representatives and consumers. Representatives from TAT were present at the TAT booth to provide advice and information on travel to Thailand.

There has been a steady increase in visitors arrivals from the United States to Thailand in the past five years. In 2006, arrivals from the US totalled 640,674. The total US visitor arrivals to Thailand for January to June 2007 was 340,000 visitors.

The award was conferred at the 18th TTG Travel Awards 2007 Ceremony and Gala Dinner to be held in conjunction with the IT&CMA and CTW 2007 Asia-Pacific event on 25 October 2007 at Sofitel Centara Grand, Bangkok.

The group’s Singapore-based managing director Darren Ng said. “The annual TTG Travel Awards, presented by TTG Publishing, seeks to honour the most outstanding performers in the Asia-Pacific’s travel industry.

“This award is bestowed each year upon excellent organizations of the travel trade within the Asia Pacific region that have shown strong commitment towards service excellence,” he said.

TAT Governor Mrs Phornsiri Manoharn said the award was a recognition of the creativity and professionalism of all the TAT staff.

“The tourism industry is becoming extremely competitive every year,” she said. “To maintain Thailand’s marketing profile has become a hugely challenging exercise, and we are glad to see that our efforts are being recognised by the esteemed readers of the TTG Group.”

This year, TAT has made some major adjustments in its marketing strategies, with one of the key changes being a return to the well-known Amazing Thailand tourism campaign slogan that proved so successful in 1998-99.

The range of Thai tourism products and services have been analysed in the wake of new trends in consumer behaviour and re-classified into seven clear categories to be marketed in a clearly focused and segmented manner, highlighting key “assets” such as traditional Thai hospitality, cuisine, heritage, health and wellness, etc.

Cooperative marketing activities have also been stepped up, especially with industry partners such as the airlines and the private sector.

In January – June 2007, international visitor arrivals totalled 6.95 million, up 3.30% over the same period of 2006, with strong growth in arrivals from Europe, the Middle East and South Asia. This year, TAT is projecting 14.8 million international visitor arrivals, up from the 13.82 million arrivals in 2006.