Expedia launches Thai website
Expedia Inc, the world's largest online travel company, yesterday launched a full-service website in Thai and plans to introduce it across Southeast Asia in local languages to cash in on the travel boom, partly driven by the Asean Economic Community comi
“Thailand has been one of our most popular destinations for our Expedia sites across Asia, particularly for our Japanese, Indian and Singaporean online travellers. With the launch of Expedia Thailand, we will now be able to offer simple online booking to Thai consumers, for both domestic and international travel,” said Dan Lynn, chief executive officer of AirAsiaExpedia Co.
Expedia.co.th is the second portal after Singapore, which opened in October. The next is Malaysia.
The tourism industry in the region will be more competitive after AEC, so travel costs will go down and people will make more trips, he said.
Expedia.co.th offers a variety of travelling options for Thai customers, from buying individual services such as hotel rooms and air tickets to a full package. It is generally 10-20 per cent cheaper than travel agents.
The website expansion would go together with budget airline AirAsia across this region as a 50:50 joint operation. In Thailand, AirAsiaExpedia Co was set up to run the business here with Bt20 million for start-up costs and media exposure. Having an airline as a shareholder should help the firm secure cheap airfares for packages to attract online buyers.
