The Phuket Gazette has been running an eye over the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s (TAT) latest promotional campaign slogan: Discover the Other You.
The campaign is part of the TAT’s larger Creative Tourism campaign, which it claims “generated 24 million visitors” to a recent online competition.
The Phuket Gazette says, "This is ‘Amazing’ stuff, but just the latest in a long string of slogans generated by the TAT during its Miracle Year Of Amazing Thailand campaign that will span all of 2012 – if we survive it.”
The TAT release reads, “the top 3 Creative Tourism activities that potential tourists want to experience are Thai massage, Thai cooking and Thai boxing”.
"Presumably not all at the same time," says the Gazette.
"But one can never be sure, given the TAT’s penchant to latch on to just about anything to keep tourism rolling with ever greater momentum.
“Let’s not forget that rescue teams were still pulling bodies out of mangrove forests after the 2004 tsunami disaster when the TAT brainstormed its “Tsunami Trail” idea to lure visitors to the region.
"The Phuket Gazette doesn’t remember anything becoming of it – maybe someone tipped them off with the message: ‘Too soon, too soon’.
"Following the equally-inscrutable Unseen Thailand campaign, the Discover the Other You initiative is likely to generate more wisecracks abroad than backpacks at Suvarnabhumi arrival hall.
"We understand that every government agency needs to be seen to be doing something. All we ask is that they find some other way to justify their bloated budgets than coming up with a never-ending series of surreal slogans and brain-bending marketing babble.
"We don’t need it: Thailand is Amazing enough as it is," says the Gazette.
