Royal Thai Airways: High Wealth Markets, Essay Example

The foregoing discussion examines Thailand’s reach as a tourist economy within the global market according to ‘ethical proportions’ through Royal Thai Airways’ Royal Orchid Plus (ROP) member campaign (Parker, 2006). ROP is a market segment of high wealth, adult male travelers are a discreet niche market from the perspective of business development, advertising, and consumer choice models of customer service. Public relations directed at high wealth demographics like the United Arab Emirates are based upon development of long-term, frequent flier relationships with those customers whom travel back and forth to Thailand on business and pleasure trips.

ROP customers from cosmopolitan hubs offered a menu of standard spa services. The ‘Culture of the Spa’ represents a wide range of popular hospitality services in Thailand. Well known for its personal service tourism (i.e. sex tourism) economy, Thailand’s beauty and tropical surroundings compliment the dream world of male fantasies associated in luxury market advertising of those services. Nevertheless, Thailand’s sex tourism industry has an alternative image to this story which gives primacy of place to human rights activism against such activities. AIDs and interrelated discourses on ‘health’ utilized by medical, public health and ‘spa’ businesses are also prevalent (Sharpley and Stone, 2009). RTA Marketing is faced with a paradox that is only negotiated on gender terms and precisely so; RTA employs Thailand’s ‘Spa Culture’ as a benefit to ROP members, yet retracts from association with anything pertaining to ‘sex.’ The royal orchid carrier is in the last instance, ‘traditional.’

The ROP customer base offers much in terms of analysis of Thailand’s national tourist market through: 1) competition models; 2) global rank; and 3) gendered specificities of leisure politics in the personal services area of the tourist industry (Taneja, 2010). Query into RTA’s business, consumer, and rather unique leisure pursuits of the men that Thai Airlines hopes to attract and maintain finds that ‘identity management’ is at the heart of the corporation’s marketing prospectus. Conclusively, RTA is both a brand and a national identity strategy; a corporation dedicated to ‘spreading awareness around the world of the uniqueness of Thai culture, its customs, and traditions.’

References

Parker, P.M. (2006). The Economic Competitiveness of Thailand: Financials Returns, Labor, Productivity and International Gaps. Icon Health Publications.

Sharpley, R. and Stone, P. R., (2009). The Darker Side of Travel: The Theory and Practice of Dark Tourism. Bristo, UK: Channel View Publications.

Taneja, N. K. (2010). Looking Beyond the Runway: Airlines Innovating with Best Practices while Facing Realities. Surrey, UK: Ashgate.