TAT works to keep tourists coming despite euro woes

  Last year, 4.93 million travellers from Europe arrived.
Juthaporn Rerngronasa, TAT’s deputy governor for international marketing for Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Americas, said the agency was not merely hoping for the best. TAT’s offices in European nations have been assigned to monitor the situation closely by checking with local agents and airlines. The results are sent back to the authority’s head office in Bangkok for evaluation of the market trend.
If the situation gets worse, the TAT will define a new plan in time to maintain targeted traffic flow. One solution is to shift its promotional budget to other regions to offset the lower tourist numbers. At the same time, charter flights will be promoted more aggressively to increase traffic, especially the routes from Manchester to Phuket and from some parts of Russia such as Siberia. Markets that show potential such as Russia and Switzerland will come under more focus.
According to the Department of Tourism, part of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, the number of foreign tourists coming to Thailand from January to June increased by 7.6 per cent year on year to 10.49 million. Last month alone, 280,000 people arrived from Europe, up from 240,000 in the same month last year. In the January-to-May period, the number of European travellers grew by 10.9 per cent year on year to 2.7 million, up from 2.42 million, the report said.
Juthaporn said that for Spaniards and Italians especially, Thailand was a major destination, as shown by high bookings for accommodation on Koh Tao and Koh Samui. Most are high-income travellers, who spend an average of Bt4,000 a day.
She accepted that it was possible that the number of low- and middle-income travellers from Europe would drop because they had been hit by the economic recession. However, even for travellers in that category, Thailand is the destination of choice because it is considered good value for money.
To promote tourism among new travellers, especially younger people, yesterday the TAT introduced “Lifestyle Thailand’’, a smart-phone application. It is an easy way to access discounts from 300 selected accommodation providers, restaurants and tourist attractions nationwide.