Tat Arranges Sydney-phuket Charter Flights

[george]

TAT arranges Sydney-Phuket charter flights

BANGKOK:-- The Tourism Authority of Thailand's (TAT) Sydney Office has teamed up with Australian Airlines to provide direct charter flights to Phuket over the next month, in a bid to revive the tourism fortunes of the country's southern resort island.

Mr. Sukree Sithiwanich, the office's director, said that the charter flights between Sydney and Phuket would run until 25 July, and would be accompanied with a package offer of an eight-day holiday for only 999 Australian dollars.

It is hoped that the charter flights, which have drawn a high degree of interest, will attract Australians to Phuket over the Australian winter.

The TAT's Sydney Office is also promoting Thai tourism through a popular Australian travel programme, Backyard Blitz, watched by 2 million viewers across the country.

The publicity films emphasise that Phuket has largely recovered from the Boxing Day tsunami six months ago.

Both Qantas and Australian Airlines have agreed to show publicity films advertising Phuket and the nearby Krabi Province on all their domestic and international flights.

Last year 396,959 Australians visited Thailand, up nearly 40 percent from the previous year.

Mr. Sukree expressed confidence that the introduction of charter flights would help restore Australian confidence in Phuket and the Andaman region, where tourism businesses are still struggling to cope from the post-tsunami drop in visitor numbers.

--TNA 2005-06-28