Phuket Hotels Association is joining hands with Bangkok-based global
hospitality branding agency QUO to roll out an aspirational relaunch
campaign aimed at restoring the island's tourism industry and expedite
the recovery process for the destination.
A fully integrated industry recovery campaign, the Imagine Phuket
project seeks to make travellers worldwide yearn for Phuket by focusing
on the "sights, sounds, feelings, tastes and emotions" associated with
the popular Thai destination.
The campaign aims to give hotels a coordinated marketing platform to
reach the international market, and each property will be given the
creative resources to personalise videos, images and logos with their
own branding, creating bespoke versions of the campaign’s message.
The branding campaign seeks to be the first small step toward
reviving travel to Phuket, and follows the earlier Covid-Ready
Certification scheme that Phuket Hotels Association has rolled out among
its 70-plus members.
"As the biggest resort destination in Asia the hotels felt it
important to lead from the front and provide inspiration to those who
are sitting at home dreaming of their next holiday. We wanted to keep
[the campaign] simple and unbranded, with the focus on people, food,
wellness, culture and nature," Anthony Lark, president of Phuket Hotels
Association, told Travel Weekly Asia.
He added: "The challenges are that we have an airport open only to
domestic travel, and [arrivals] are a tiny fraction of the numbers we
would like to see, as even Thai residents are staying closer to home."
Largely reliant on the international market, Phuket welcomed over 10
million arrivals last year. But it has been hard hit by the Covid-19
pandemic, and hotels have struggled to reopen.
The Covid-19 crisis had already cost the island over 120 billion baht
(US$3.9 million) in lost income, with losses expected by to reach 280
billion baht by the end of the year if the current situation persists,
Phuket Chamber of Commerce President Thanusak Phungdet told reporters in
a recent press conference.
Unemployment has soared by over 34% YoY, according to local reports.