Yet TAT, closely monitored by the government as a key source of foreign exchange, feels vindicated by the results. The number of visitors to Thailand climbed over 7 per cent in 1998 and rose 11 per cent in the first half of 1999, year-to-year. Their spending last year rose proportionately, to a hefty $6.1 billion. TAT expects revenue to top $8 billion this year and $9 billion in 2000. "We have the right product and the right campaign," says TAT deputy governor Juthamas Siriwan. "It's giving Thailand a better image than before."

To keep it fresh, TAT changes campaign themes. For the first year, it zeroed in on Thailand as amazing value for money. For 1999, TAT and its advertising agent, Leo Burnett, took advantage of festivities marking the birthday of King Bhumibhol in December, among them a procession of ancient barges down the Chao Phraya river, to focus on the "amazing river of kings". The theme for 2000, which will be unveiled in London next month, is "enchantment for the next thousand years," says Aimora Bunnag, Leo Burnett's group account director. "We will position Thailand as a treasure for the pleasure of the world."

The idea leaves some in the travel business wincing, and whether you like it or not, critics say, the basic slogan is no longer enough. "There's only so much life in an advertising campaign and `Amazing Thailand' has really run its course," says David Barrett of Siam Express, one of Thailand's biggest tour operators. "TAT needed to come up with a successor to it and not just sit back on their success."

But continuing the campaign is "absolutely right," counters Chris Lees, TAT's marketing director in London, "because the one thing we have achieved is the most incredible profile." The slogan is giving Thailand the equivalent of a corporate brand identity and that is "a marketer's dream," he says. Hong Kong is trying the same with its slogan `City of Life', but "Thailand did it first and they did it very well," Lee says.

Thailand's return on its promotional spending seems to bear him out. It spent about $2 million on its global campaign, attracting 7.6 million visitors. By comparison, Singapore spent about S$80 million (US $48 million), attracting 6.2 million visitors, and Hong Kong about HK$100 million (US $13 million) for 9.6 million visitors. Visitors to Thailand stay an average eight nights, in Singapore and Hong Kong they stay three nights.

The slogan's great strength is its simplicity, says Lee, helping it gain widespread recognition in the travel industry. "The slogan has stuck. When you walk into a travel agent (in Europe) you see it time and again," agrees Thomas Reiter, general manager of Diethelm Travel in Bangkok. "I don't think we could have done a much better job in these two years."

Barrett agrees that smart marketing moves have given it added impact. Instead of keeping copyright control, TAT allowed free use of the slogan by tour agencies and airlines and co-sponsored advertisements with them, enabling it to get around limitations on its advertising budget. Thai Airways International then kicked in with a special, highly competitive deal on air fares, a crucial ingredient in selling long-haul destinations.

Under the Amazing Thailand slogan, TAT is trying to enrich the marketing cocktail. It is adding new beach destinations alongside longstanding resort favourites like Phuket and Pattaya. It wants to bring tourists to the north-east, the poorest and most populous part of Thailand, until now largely off the tourist trail. It is also attacking turf previously dominated by Hong Kong and Singapore by offering itself as a shoppers' paradise. Where they appeal as a cheap source of international brand names, Thailand is promoting its own products-garments, silk, handicrafts and jewellery-offering two "grand sales" a year.

TAT and travel agents agree that this will attract Asian visitors who don't share Westerners' obsession with beaches and suntan, and will lure more money from the pockets of Western tourists too.

According to TAT, tourist spending rose 60 per cent last year during a sale period, and, Siam Express' Barrett, just back from a trip to the US, says he found "tremendous interest in major groups coming at the time of the sale."The threat to `Amazing Thailand' and supporting initiatives worrying travel agents is that Thai hotels and resorts are starting to raise prices even as competitors in the Caribbean are honing their prices. "We don't have to be the cheapest but we must remain competitive and that's the key issue in the next 12 months," warns Lee. "We mustn't kill the golden goose."

(The Asian Wall Street Journal)