Thailand’s New Face

He’s Nichkhun Horvejkul, born June 24th, 1988, of 182cm height and 64kg weight. And he’s Thailand’s first new celebrity ambassador. Who?!

After the unforgettable, ever-lasting, worn-out Amazing Thailand campaign the tourism supremos are betting on something fresher.

Here comes a young guy and sings Come to Thailand; Let’s take a break! Nah? Caught the fever? Young, hip, cute – the new Thailand! Where politics have no place:

Here’s a backgrounder by etn/Global Travel Industry News:

Confronted by a sharp slump in tourist arrivals, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is stepping up its communication efforts to regain its position as a leading tourist destination in Southeast Asia – by putting a new face on Thai tourism.

His cute face turns the head of youngsters in Thailand but also in Korea. Singer Nichkhun Horvejkul, 21 years old, is one of the most popular pop star singers these days in Southeast Asia. “He is handsome, charming, has a lot of talent and speaks perfectly Thai, English, Korean and starts to learn Mandarin,” commented Mrs. Jutthaporn Rerngronasa, deputy-governor for Marketing Communication at the TAT.

Young Nichkhun is indeed becoming the new idol of Thailand tourism authorities for the promotion of the kingdom. A comedic-style video that shows Nichkhun playing golf, eating a lobster, practicing Thai traditional boxing or splashing water for the Songkran festival, will be display in the Korean market. The tagline of the campaign is “Come to Thailand; Lets take a break!” and it will be promoted via a specific website, www.nichkhunbreak.com.

According to Mrs. Jutthaporn, TAT especially looks at the youth market that is more flexible and is very keen to come for a short fun break. “Nichkhun is the first celebrity to helps us to promote tourism in Asian markets, which have been severely battered by internal and external factors such as the recession, political instability as well as the H1N1 virus.”

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The negative advertising that Thailand received recently is also due in fact to the inability of many companies to react immediately and communicate. In Asia, negative events are considered as a loss of face and are mostly ignored. This cultural behavior will have to change if Thailand wants to have its voice heard. The future website should be launched over the next few months with TAT highlighting the fact that it will exclusively deal with requests attached to tourism topics.

“Thaksin, violence in the Southern part of the country will for example not be part of the website. We would however advised media to ask the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in such cases,” explained one of TAT officials involved into the project.”