Resort aims to have 30% of guests enjoying integrated wellness stays by the end of 2017
Amatara Wellness Resort has commenced a program of visits to travel operators in Europe throughout the first quarter of 2017, as well as establishing a presence at premier travel & trade events in key markets. The tour includes the Worldhotels Conference in Russia (January ’17), Phuket Tourism Association in China & Hong Kong road show (February ’17), and ITB Berlin in Germany (March ‘17). Amatara also visited leading travel agencies in Germany and Switzerland, two markets the resort has identified as having excellent potential for growth this year.
Mr. Athipat Jitchaiwat, Director of Sales and Marketing of Amatara, said, “As we are the first luxury integrated wellness resort in Phuket, all of the potential business partners we have met so far seemed to be excited to know more about the Amatara wellness concept. Another USP that sets us apart would be the collaboration with Bangkok Hospital, especially with the program that we introduced together for the ‘brain health enhancement program’. In the last quarter of 2016, we introduced ‘bespoke’ packages offering a real tailor-made program that allows guests to pick its treatments on the spot (with the help of our advisor) to match their needs, wants, lifestyle goals and physical/conditional goals.”
Amatara sees the Chinese market as being the rising star among all Asian nations due to its large population, economic growth and the better education of the new generation. However, the most prominent markets are still India, Hong Kong and Japan; these are markets where the Wellness concept has long been well established and accepted, and thusly provide the greatest number of inbound visitors to Amatara Wellness Resort.
In terms of European markets, wellness tourism is well accepted by Europeans, especially by the British and also German-speaking nations. Europeans tend to appreciate the preventive approach so allocating money to this kind of holiday is not difficult for them. Throughout much of Asia, Asian travelers typically think of Wellness only when they are not well; however, there is an increasing trend that shows Asians are spending more money on Wellness holiday. The “Geo” mix at Amatara is still 65% European and 35% Asian.
Mr. Athipat continues, “After attending these trade shows our aim is to have up to 30% wellness guests in the resort. We are expecting UK visitors to represent up to 10% of our Geo mix (+11% from last year), German speaking 9% (+11% from last year), and Austrian 9% (+54% from last year). Hong Kong and Singapore are still the two key feeder markets among the SEA countries due to their economic status, and the fact that people there work so hard and need time to rejuvenate and pamper themselves. For the Thai market, we must admit that we have to work hard to be competitive, and we need to do the correct marketing in the right segment.”
Official data from BOI notes that in 2014 there were up to 2.35 million tourist travelling to Thailand for both medical and wellness purposes. Amatara anticipates 10% growth each year, so in 2017 the projected number should be around 2.8-3 million.
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