Spanish eyes on Thai travellers

13 Feb 2014  2036 | World Travel News

Despite ongoing political instability in Thailand, Spain Tourism Board believes it can woo more Thai travellers to visit the country this year.
Speaking at a media briefing Tuesday, Spain Tourism Board director, Arturo Ortiz, expressed confidence that the outbound market from Thailand would expand this year.
“Spain is determined to be one of the top destinations for Thai travellers…despite the prolonged political discord in Thailand, Thai visits to Spain continue to grow at 20% to 30%.”
Last year, there were 16,299 Thai tourists visited Spain up 20% from 13,606 visits in 2012. Spending is high with shopping for branded goods at the top of the wish list for most Thai travellers to Spain.
There is also solid demand for lucrative incentive groups from Thailand, organised by companies that have already hosted incentives for staff in other European destinations and need new options to motivate their sales and marketing teams.
The Thai market is just one potential market among ASEAN countries that are being targeted by Spain. The others are Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam.
The rising popularity of Spain as a destination for ASEAN visitors coincides with Madrid and Barcelona being ranked in second place as top shopping destinations in Europe according to the Globe Shopper Index-Europe, a programme run by the Economist Intelligence Unit and sponsored by Global Blue.
“Unlike the uneven performance of other countries, Madrid and Barcelona consistently maintain a top ranking for cuisine, convenience, and low shopping prices on brand name items.”
In the events segment, Spain was the third top country destination in 2012, while Madrid and Barcelona were the fourth and fifth favourite destinations based on statistics released by the International Congress and Convention Association.
Mr Ortiz added that tourism is the key factor boosting Spain’s economy at time when there was a decline in gross domestic product.
Last year, Spain received a record of 60.7 million tourists (+5.6%) and gained 59 billion euros (+10%) in tourism revenue. The biggest arrival figures came from the United Kingdom (14.3 million) followed by Germany (9.8 million) and France (9.5 million).
Spain ranked as the third most popular destination in 2013 after France and the United States that attracted 83 million and 67 million international tourists respectively.
Tourism accounted for 15.5% of Spain’s Gross Domestic Product (around 175 billion euro).
“World Cup 2014 held in Brazil, 12 June to 13 July, will benefit Spain tourism as the country is an aviation gateway to South America,” he said.
This year, tourism is expected to grow around 2% to 3% from last year.

Sourced: TravelDaliyNews

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