Today’s issue of The Nation newspaper carries a story about the launch of a ‘Tourist TV’ channel to promote destinations around Thailand to visiting tourists. As noted in the article, the ‘channel’ is actually up to 10 hours a day of programming to be provided to existing broadcast and cable channels in Thailand.
Now, there are certainly a lot of interesting places in Thailand, that many foreign tourists probably don’t know about, but does promoting these destinations to people who are already here really make sense? Most people plan their trips well in advance, and aren’t likely to want to make major changes in the itenerary at the last minute, especially with some of the penalties charged by airlines these days for changes.
Of course, there is a class of tourist that does usually have a flexible schedule – the backpacker pack. But most of these folk won’t even spring for a room with a shower (or is it that they just don’t use it?) so I’d be surprised if they even had access to a television, and even more surprised that, if they did have a TV, it wouldn’t be tuned to some sports channel.
The program sounds more like a government ‘feel good’ campaign rather than something that will produce real results, but who in this world really expects their government to produce real results?
Full text of The Nation article:
‘Tourist TV’ launched
Published on December 28, 2005
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will launch the country’s first tourist television channel today, aimed at promoting local destinations and encouraging foreign visitors to return to the Kingdom. The channel – the government’s latest strategy to lure more tourists back – will show domestic attractions to foreign visitors while they are here.
Programmes are set to commence on January 9 on government-run Channel 11 and UBC’s sub-channel nine. Both stations have a one-year contract to run the programming for 10 hours each day. The channel will feature all kinds of tourism information, including daily news, travel documentaries, highlights of tourism activities, new services and people in the industry and other relevant topics. The government passed the project on to the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) in the middle of the year.
The TAT will spend Bt100 million on the project. The authority had initially planned to work with MCOT Plc, but the Budget Bureau did not approve the plan due to a lack of returns. The TAT instead opted to work with RTN Television Plc to produce programming. Thaksin is conducting an opening ceremony for the channel at the Hua Mark Indoor Stadium today.
Currently, Channel 11 broadcasts Andaman News, which features local news, interviews and weather forecasts in English in Phuket, Phang Nga, and Krabi. The programme runs from 8.30am to 9am, Monday to Friday. The same content is also broadcast on Radio Thailand FM 90.5.
Suchat Sritama, The Nation
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