How to Re-Launch Thailand as a Destination for Russian Travelers in a Post-Pandemic Reality?

Client

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is a state enterprise responsible for the promotion of tourism in Thailand.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2019 Russia provided close to 1,25 million visitors to Thailand and was a leader in this indicator among European countries.

Goal

The main TAT goal is to attract more visitors and increase the flow of Russian tourists to Thailand in Y 2021 - 2025. In this regard, our task was to conduct Russian travel market research and create a marketing strategy based on its insights and findings.

Solution

During the study, it was important to find answers to the following questions:

Explore and assess the market impact of COVID-19

• How has the pandemic affected the Russian tourism market?
• What are the new top destinations for Russian tourists?
• What are the key trends and threats for Thailand?

Understand consumer behaviour

• How have Russian tourists’ favourite destinations and spending habits changed?
• What are the factors influencing their choice of travel destination? Identify new opportunities
• What are the promising new audience segments emerging after the COVID-19 pandemic?
• How can Thailand develop its offer to seize these new opportunities?

Develop marketing strategy

• What USP and marketing strategy Thailand should use in the post COVID period?
• What channels and tools should be employed to help Thailand recover from the COID crisis?

The working process was carried out in four stages.

Stage 1. Research preparation

At this stage, we developed a research methodology, drew up and agreed on lists of questions for the poll.

Stage 2. Research execution

We conducted research using online technology stack:

• Tiburon - trusted research panel in Russia and the CIS;
• YOUSCAN - social listening software;
• Official statistics by Russian and (or) International travel institutions;
• Yandex WordStat and Google Trends;
• Other relevant open data sources.

Stage 3. Research reporting

We collected and processed the received data, prepared a report.

Stage 4. Marketing strategy creation

Based on market analysis and competitive review we developed a marketing strategy that contained

• general principles of the tactic campaign,
• the primary target audiences in Russia,
• 7 advertising communication waves with the separate key marketing messages,
• beat, realistic and worst case scenarios,
• media plan for seven waves for each of three scenarios.

Results

At a time when “stable uncertainty” was established in the travel industry, it was important for us, on the basis of the research data, to foresee all possible scenarios for the further development of the market and take them into account when preparing a marketing strategy. As a result, the client received an agile marketing and communication strategy that can be quickly adapted depending on the changing market situation.