Bright future at last

BANGKOK Thailand’s inbound tour operators enjoyed a substantial 45% increase in business over the first four months of the year, according to the latest trade figures.
Based on Association of Thai Travel Agents’ count, 1,479,256 tourists arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport on member company tour itineraries, January to April. It represented an increase of 45.87% from 1,014,111 visits during the same period last year.
ATTA released its latest data, Tuesday, based on fees member agencies pay to the airport to provide a meet-and-greet service for their international clients. It is considered an accurate barometer for the tourism industry but is limited to travel through Bangkok’s two gateway airports.
ATTA has promised members to broaden the scope of its data collection to include other international airports in Thailand such as Phuket and Chiang Mai.
inside no 3The association president, Charoen Wangananont, claimed 2015 was tuning out to be a record year for the tour business. He predicts inbound tour companies will handle 6 million foreign visitors up from 3.24 million last year.
It translates into a massive inflow of revenue for tour operators after almost 10 years of see-saw trends caused mainly by the country’s political turmoil.
ATTA’s assessment is based on the performance of its 1,462 members, but excludes hundreds of tour operators, who work outside the association’s influence mainly in Asian markets.
“Arrivals have rebounded in all main markets except Russia, which is due to an economy crisis and ruble weakness… even in that market we forecast the situation will gradually improve, particularly by the fourth quarter this year.”
The association is now implementing its “Big Move” policies to reorganise the association to become more efficient and also to revitalise tourism in the country.
Apart from the traditional aspects of attending major international tourism trade shows, the association has said it will work with experts and a group of academics to set up a national tourism research and development centre.
This would leverage the association’s access to credible data through its membership, which could offer the country realistic indicators on spending as well as market segmentation.
But it is also talking about the need to improve workers’ competencies; organise a campaign for AEC and AEC+6; providing E-visa for ASEAN and China; and organising roadshow to main markets such as to China.
Data highlights Jan to April
For the first four months of the year, China led the field with an improvement of 167.68% from 271,555 visits to 726,908 visits.
Russia followed in second place with 91,664 visits, down 67.99% from 286,341 visits during the same period last year.
The next in top five markets were: Vietnam (55,927; +341.24%); Japan (55,896; +32.38%); and India (54,793; +26.03%).
April performance
In April, 369,896 foreign tourists were handled by member companies, up 88.93% from 195,787 visits during the same month in 2014.
China was top with 201,278 visits growing 194.36% from 68,378 visits.
Neighbouring Vietnam was second with 19,784 visits increasing 359.03% from 4,310 visits. India in third place recorded 15,327 visits up 17.47% from 13,048 visits.
Although posting a decline of 57.73%, Russia remained in fourth place with 12,741 visits compared to 30,141 during the same month last year. South Korea in fifth place posted 10,897 visits growing 58.46% from 6,877 visits.
The next top five markets in April were: Japan (7,678; +52.64%); Hong Kong (7,279; +128.61%); Taiwan (6,669; +102.03%); the United Kingdom (4,625; +16.03%); and Germany (4,028; +15.51%).
The association also reported 104,924 tour clients were served by members at Don Mueang Airport in April.
The top 10 markets were: China (95,914); Indonesia (3,780); Myanmar (1,072); India (873); Vietnam (776); Malaysia (626); Japan (460); South Korea (273); Holland (226); and UK (174).
ATTA opened its second office at Don Mueang Airport, 1 August, last year, to offer meet-and-greet services for member travel agents.
During January to April, 354,317 international travellers travelled through the second gateway.
ATTA members handled 1,833,573 clients at both airports during January and April.
Top 10 source markets for ATTA agents January to April 2015 at Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports inside-no-3.1

sourced:ttrweekly.com