TAT luring short-haul visitors as zero-$ crackdown hits China market
THE TOURISM Authority of Thailand is trying to boost arrivals from short-haul markets in the remaining weeks of this year to compensate for the huge drop from China following the crackdown on “zero dollar tours” over the past few months. Tourism Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul said yesterday that TAT aimed to lure more than 300,000 visitors from Southeast Asian markets such as Singapore, Malaysi
They would be mainly individual travellers, families and company employees.
Growth in inbound numbers has slowed over past few months, particularly from the China market.
China is Thailand’s largest source of foreign visitors, with 7.9 million coming last year and 10 million projected to head here this year.
However, the Chiang Mai Tourism Business Association saw only 25,000 Chinese touring the northern province during Golden Week last month, down about 5,000-10,000 from the same holiday period in 2015.
Some tour operators fear that the country risks losing up to 800,000 Chinese tourists because of the crackdown. Zero-dollar tours offer what looks like cheap travel, but customers end up facing a lot of add-ons once they reach their destinations.
Thai AirAsia also predicts tourist arrivals from China falling 10-15 per cent because of the crackdown, but the budget airline is leaving its overall target at 17 million passengers for this year.
The airline is also set to focus on the Indochina market to substitute for the China market.
Kobkarn, however, insisted that total arrivals this year would remain growing and the China market was not affected.
To strengthen tourism in the final quarter of this year, TAT plans to organise many events such as “Jazz in the World Heritage” in Ayutthaya and to promote the nine royal routes initiated by the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
TAT expects that tourists and domestic travellers will generate Bt609 billion in revenue this quarter, better by 1.2 per cent than the final quarter last year.
Tourism revenue for the entire year now is expected to be Bt2.48 trillion, higher than the Bt2.40 trillion forecast earlier.
