January travel up for Thai agents

BANGKOK  Association of Thai Travel Agents’ member companies handled 347,621 international tourists at Suvarnabhumi Airport in January representing an increase of 18.25% from 293,980 visits during the same month last year.
ATTA released its data, earlier this week, based on fees member agencies pay to the airport to provide a meet-and-greet service for international clients. It is considered an accurate barometer for the tourism industry, but is limited to travel through Bangkok.
The association president, Sisdivachr Cheewarattanaporn, said the economic downturn in Europe will challenge Thailand tourism this year.
“It is not just Russia. Many European countries are facing serious economic problems…tour operators therefore we should find new markets to balance business.”
inside no 4 “Asian markets like China and particularly ASEAN countries such as Indonesia and Vietnam could make up the difference,” he suggested. “Indonesia has a huge population, while Vietnam’s economy is growing and these factors will boost outbound tourism from both countries.”
Thailand’s travel agency business improved in January. China led the field with an improvement of 142.97% from 61,202 visits to 148,701 visits.
Russia followed in second place with 35,566 visits, but the market was down 63.59% from 97,686 during the same month last year.
South Korea ranked third with 16,150 visits increasing 25.29% from 12,890 visits, while Japan was in fourth place with 14,034 visits down 15.84% from 16,676 visits.
India in fifth place recorded 12,804 visits growing 18.50% from 10,805 visits in 2014.
The next top five markets in January were: Vietnam (8,777; +274.93%); Germany (7,355; +4.85%); Taiwan (6,041; +76.53%); France (4,611; -18.19%); and the United Kingdom (4,213; -4.36%).
The association also reported 67,819 tourists were handled by ATTA members at Don Mueang Airport in January.
The top 10 markets were: China (59,490); Indonesia (2,289); South Korea (1,620); Malaysia (1,479); India (918); Japan (411); Poland (191); Myanmar (140); Vietnam (129); and Taiwan (96).
ATTA opened its second office at Don Mueang Airport,1 August, last year, to offer meet-and-greet services for member travel agents.
ATTA members handled 415,440 clients at both airports in January.
There are no figures for tourists served by ATTA agents in Phuket, Chiang Mai or the Samui gateways. Phuket should be a priority for ATTA data collection, but the association claims it is a costly exercise that should be subsidised either by airports, or the Ministry of Tourism and Sports to improve data quality for the tourism industry at large.

sourced:ttrweekly.com