What events *could* lure tourists back...?
Obviously, TAT appears to be completely delusional and incompetent about their choice of 'events' to lure tourists back (i.e. nothing special), so, subsequently, here's a couple of suggestions for events that could kick-start tourism by exploiting demographics and events the TAT might not have considered :-)
STAR TREK / BKK 2009 : world's first Star Trek convention in Bangkok. No need to combine with any special hotel deals, since hotel prices will be in a slump by then. Requires arrangements with Thai to provide special prices for flights to bring all the Trekkies to BKK. Of course, any Star Trek convention requires the appropriate guest stars to be present - this should be no problem. William Shatner will be a shoo-in, once you explain to him that the town is brimming with girls; Jonathan Frakes will be right along, along with Michael Dorn on their coat tails... They will bring their friends. Introduce the women to a couple of spas in BKK, and the female guests will be an easy one.
It will be fun, undoubtedly, convincing the girls in Soi Cowboy to paint their skin green or blue, to give the fanbois the much desired Orion Slave Girls and Andorian Warrior fantasies. Getting them to dress up as Klingon mates will be trickier, but I'm sure the usual Katoeys will be game for that (as well as looking more the part). Clearly, there'll be lots of "Farang TingTong" thoughts going through the girls' thoughts, but they won't be able to argue with the Baht rolling their way, and will perfect identifying themselves as 'Dabo Girls'.
If an event filled with Trekkies is not a found fodder for lower Sukhumwit, I don't know what is...
a few months later....
STAR WARS EXTRAVAGANZA / BKK 2009 : Pretty much the same formula, as above, but with the added benefit that most of the naming conventions in Star Wars, characters, planets, etc.. all have Thai sounding names anyway, and the fanbois will feel straight at home. This one could be combined and expanded to include Pattaya, for that extra 'oompf'
Guest stars? Easy -- George will be all over himself to fly out, to come back to Thailand (where do you think all the Thai sounding names come from), and there's even one or two characters and actresses that are genuinely Thai. Home run!
By now the Soi Cowboy girls will be used to dressing up strangely, so going for the Princess Leia look, or sticking some tentacles on their heads will be S.O.P. to them... all while the Baht are rolling in.
If an event filled with Star Wars fans is not a found fodder for lower Sukhumwit, I don't know what is... Heck, toss in and combine it with a Farscape / Firefly / Serenity, and we have a winner!
a few months later...
MACWORLD BKK 2009 : a winner right there... Not only will you have 50,000 sex starved unsuspecting Mac geeks descend upon Bangkok, but the lure for most exhibitors is of lower costs, cheap accommodations, the promise of expanding their market (you know, Thailand is a potentially huge new market for Macs... or something).
Not really much for the girls to do at this point, though undoubtedly they'll try to recycle some of the costumes from the prior two events, and some guys might get their kicks from a leftover Dabo girl, or Jedi Warrioress... but really, most girls just need to wear an "I heart Mac" button, and they are home free.
The added benefit is that there is plenty of cross-over with local talent, so the event will also attract local Thai artsy dude, and chicks, and we'll have some mingling and knowledge exchange for sure.
If an event filled with Mac fanbois is not a found fodder for lower Sukhumwit, I don't know what is...
a few months later
LinuxWorld BKK 2009 : yes, Linux has a presence in Thailand, but the world geek brigade does not -- this event aims to change that, by bringing the Linux geeks of the world to Bangkok, for a true exchange of ideas with the local color.
Obviously, a smaller group (despite what most Linux geeks want us to believe) than the Mac event, but certainly more dedicated to a sex-less life, and therefore, once again, fodder for such an event.
A slightly more mature crowd, and the girls will certainly be used to less than ideal hygiene conditions from their regular customer base of low-class Brits, Aussies, and Euros of various denominations. Again, the Baht will roll in.
If an event packed with Linux aficionados... well, you know the drill...
This should not only result in at least a guaranteed 200,000 new visitors, but an almost guaranteed 80% repeat visitors after a couple more months and probably and increase in location shooting for various movies following...
What do you think? ;-)
