As a result of these efforts, the Master Card Crescent Rating Global Muslim Travel Index 2016 ranked Thailand second place on the list of non-Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) destinations for the second year running.
With the collaboration from its strategic partners in using both social and traditional marketing tools, including celebrity marketing, Thailand has been able to better reach high- quality target markets in the Middle East, no matter coming as a family or alone; for business or pleasure; either honeymoon couples, or those who need healthcare services.
The Middle East remains one of the key markets to raise Thailand’s quality tourism benchmark, especially for people seeking luxury shopping and healthcare. The importance of the Middle East Market has been noted as 67% of Middle East visitors make repeat visits to the country, an outstanding record that underscores Thailand’s enviable status as a top leisure travel destination.
Thailand welcomed 571,920 visitors from the region in 2015, with 163,960 visitors from the UAE, 90,012 from Oman, over 85,597 from Iran and 71,000 from Kuwait. In 2014, Middle East visitors to Thailand stayed an average of 11.88 days, and spent an average of 171 US dollars daily, compared with an average 9.8 day stay for other nationalities who spent about 148 US dollars a day.
2016 is a year of events and several celebrations in Thailand and below are some of the upcoming major events in the kingdom:
TTM+ 2016: The Thailand Travel Mart Plus Amazing Gateway to the Greater Mekong Subregion (TTM+) 2016 that will be held on 8-10 June, 2016, in Chiang Mai.
Lady Month: August is going to be promoted as the ‘Lady Month’ in accordance with the 84thbirthday anniversary of Her Majesty the Queen to encourage more female travellers to visit Thailand. A variety of activities will be conducted to promote this market; such as, a fast track immigration lane for ladies, special offers and discounts for female shoppers, a lady’s golf challenge, lady celebrities and bloggers to Thailand, plus more.
In the region, the TAT Dubai and Middle East Office will soon unveil its new Ambassador to promote Thailand as a chic leisure destination for women.
 officially launched a new marketing campaign to attract quality tourists from the Middle East){kind=link}