Thai Tour Booking Rise Spurs Hopes

[george]

Thai tour booking rise spurs hopes

BANGKOK: -- The Association of Thai Travel Agents expects tourism to start picking up in the second half after a revival in advance bookings from short-haul travellers.

Tour operators are more hopeful after receiving advance bookings for the upcoming high season. Most booking have come from China, Japan, Iraq, Hong Kong and Singapore, said ATTA president Surapol Sritrakul.

"International tourists have started booking package tours in Thailand. ... Tourism will recover sometime next year. I think the short-haul market will rebound soon."

The number of tourists booking through travel agents will be the lowest in a decade despite the improvement. In the first half such bookings plunged by 38% to 867,267 tourists.

China is one of Thailand's key markets. Arrivals from the country are expected to increase once the issue of visa fees has been resolved. China was not initially included in the list of countries which would have their visa fees waived. However, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said he would resolve the issue.

In the first six months, the number of Chinese tourists booking through tour agents declined by 40% year-on-year to 113,727. The ATTA expects the figure to improve over the rest of the year as both the economy and the local political situation stabilise.

The association said operators must look for opportunities in new and emerging markets such as Russia and Ukraine.

Japan still provides strong growth potential, even though Japanese tourist arrivals plummeted by 48% to around 300,000 in the first half mainly as a result of local political instability, said Anake Srishevachart, president of the Thai Travel Agents Association (TTAA).

The government should make more efforts to use the media to promote Thailand to the Japanese, he said.

"Japanese tourists ... make decisions to travel by themselves and tour agents have little influence on their decisions. The government or the Tourism Authority of Thailand must realise this and chooses the proper channels to promote the country," Mr Anake said.

Mr Anake said the association would raise this issue with the TAT. It will also ask the government to extend the visa on arrival from one month to three months for Japanese senior tourists.

Senior citizens make up about 22% of Japan's population. They typically have incomes exceeding 100,000 baht a month, he said.

-- Bangkok Post 2009-07-31