Event to stir travel between Kyushu and Thailand

To mark the 40th anniversary of Asean-Japan friendship and cooperation, the Symposium on Mutual Tourism Exchange between Thailand and Kyushu was held in Fukuoka on May 8. 

Participants included representatives of Kyushu’s tourist businesses and Thai government officials. Led by Thanatip Upatising, Thai ambassador to Japan, and Suraphon Svetasreni, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), the Thai side met with the Japanese delegates to map out a plan to increase two-way tourist traffic. 

Though Thailand received 1.3 million Japanese visitors last year, only 10 per cent of that total came from Kyushu. Conversely, of the more than 260,000 Thais who visited Japan last year, about 8 per cent went to Kyushu, most having made such cities as Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto their holiday destinations.

The symposium focused on enhancing bilateral relations at the national level, then examined channels to improve marketing activities to increase two-way traffic. More than 500 Japanese representatives of Kyushu’s tourism industry participated, including the local government leaders of Fukuoka prefecture and executives of Japan’s Transport Bureau and Japan Railway. 

The event highlighted the need for active involvement of the Thai and Japanese governments in facilitating travel between Kyushu and Thailand. Marketing routes considered were more frequent media and travel-agent familiarisation trips and better exposure in each country’s travel shows.

Last year, Japanese tourists to Thailand increased 21.58 per cent to 1,371,253. In the first four months of this year, Japanese arrivals rose 19.16 per cent to 520,415 over the same period of last year.

This year, TAT is expecting 1.42 million Japanese visitors, generating an estimated Bt55.69 billion in tourism revenue. Japan is Thailand’s largest trading partner, while Thailand is Japan’s sixth-largest trading partner. In terms of investors,