HONG KONG: Despite the series of bomb blasts in Hua Hin and parts of the Southern region in August and the fact that the global economy has not fully recovered, stakeholders are confident that tourism revenue will meet this year’s target of Bt2.58 trillion, up 14 per cent from last year.
“The positive outlook for Thai tourism is based on the strong confidence of both tourists and the world’s most respected organisations such as the World Tourism Organisation and the World Travel and Tourism Council that Thailand is a safe and enjoyable destination,” said Yuthasak Supasorn, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand.
He said there were more air routes from Russia (Moscow, Vladivostok and Yekaterinburg), the Middle East (Tehran, Dubai and Doha), and Asia (Hong Kong, Mandalay, Luang Prabang and Vientiane). As well, the Golden Week coming up next month in China had created 39 charter flights with 7,594 seats heading to Bangkok or Phuket from nine cities in that country. The TAT and private tourism companies say they have been communicating with visitors and industry players in both times of calm and crisis to send the message that tourist safety and security are always a priority.
The global economic slowdown is expected to continue to hit some source markets in Europe, but Asians will continue to flock into the country, the TAT hopes. Speaking at a conference on tourism recently, Yuthasak said that in the first nine months of 2016, Thailand’s tourism industry was expected to generate revenue of Bt1.88 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 14 per cent.
Of that total, some Bt1.25 trillion, up 17 per cent, was contributed by 24.94 million inbound tourists, an increase of 13 per cent. Another Bt629 billion, up 6 per cent, came from domestic tourism, with 111 million trips taken by locals. Northeast Asia was the largest source market in the period at 17 per cent, the Americas at 15 per cent, Asean, South Asia and Europe at 10 per cent each, the Middle East at 8 per cent, and Africa at 5 per cent.
The Oceania market recorded 1.25-per-cent growth in the third quarter, bringing the overall performance up slightly, though there was a 0.7-per-cent drop across the nine-month period. Yuthasak said TAT expected the final quarter of this year to generate revenue of Bt698 billion, a 16-per-cent increase from the same three months last year, comprising Bt468 billion from 9.01 million international tourists and Bt230 billion from domestic tourism.
Manit Boonchim, representative of the Tourism Council of Thailand, said the TCT’s tourist confidence index was 98 in the third quarter of this year, slightly lower than the baseline of 100. The index is expected rise to 102 in the fourth quarter. Charoen Wangananont of the Association of Thai Travel Agents, whose members handled one-sixth of the total tourist arrivals to Thailand, said it would service 6.3 million tourists this year, up from 5.12 million last year.
