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The mart has already reported a registration of 480 buyers from 64 countries and 354 sellers from Thailand and the GMS countries. Although final numbers will be established closer to the actual date, so far it is the highest turnout is above the 343 buyers in 2016 and the 440 buyers in 2008. The largest contingent of buyers for TTM+ 2017 is Europe (182), East Asia (137), ASEAN (42), America (38), Oceania (29), Middle East (11) and Thailand (41).
The registration of 354 sellers is also higher than the 342 recorded in 2016. The sellers comprise hotels and resorts (272), tour operators and travel agents (30), GMS (14), entertainment (11), sustainable tourism (8), associations (6), NTOs (5), transportation (4) and other travel services (4).
Speaking about the mart, Yuthasak Supasorn, Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), said, “This is a clear indication of the high level of interest in Thailand and Northern Thailand in particular. We are now finalising some very interesting events, activities and tours for the buyers which I am sure will go a long way towards helping them better promoting Chiang Mai and Northern Thailand to their clients.”
The decision to maintain Chiang Mai as the venue of the TTM+ for the second consecutive year was designed to ensure that buyers and media get yet another chance to explore the many unique emerging cultural and natural attractions of Northern Thailand and the border countries of Myanmar and Lao PDR.
In the first quarter of 2017, Thailand’s visitor arrivals surged to 9.2 million, generating nearly five million Thai Baht, up by two to seven percent, respectively over the same period of 2016. Amongst these numbers, visitors from Southeast Asia were up by 18% followed by the Americas (+14%), Europe (+8%), the Middle East (+7%), ASEAN (+3%), and Africa (+2%).
Source: travelnewsdigest.in