ATTA agents report gains

Association of Thai Travel Agents’ released its November tourism data, Wednesday, indicating member companies handled 8.37% more clients, at the national gateway, Suvarnabhumi Airport,  over the same month last year. The association also reported that over the 11-month period, January to November, the average increase was 19.53% year-on-year.

In November, tourists handled by ATTA members stood at 212,956, against 196,511 in November 2009. From January to November, the figure stood at 1,811,735 tourists compared to 1,515,777 recorded during the same period in 2009. During November, China remained the top supplier with 278,225 tourists representing a 40.39% surge over the same month in 2009, a poor year due to political unrest throughout Thailand. When compared with 2008, a banner year for tourism, the growth rate was 7.49% on 258,828 clients.

Russia, the second source market, delivered 219,284 clients, double the number received in 2009 — 108.34% and even when compared to 2008, tourist arrivals from Russia skyrocketed 94.3% India in third place continued to show a dramatic improvement over 2008’s record. In November, ATTA members welcomed 181,106 Indian tourists — a 34% increase over 2009 and 56.87% over the same month in 2008.

Another two countries in the top 20 showed significant growth in November 2008 — Iran (115.36%) and Hong Kong (15.69%). The rest of the top 10 source markets in November were: Japan (132,041, -20.67%); Korea (126,961, +51.73%); Taiwan (91,214, +10.21%); Germany (69,646, +8.39%); Iran (67,375, +53.02%); Hong Kong (63,215, -0.45%) and UK (61,498, -12.88%).

While the  performance of most markets improved over 2009, several markets declined – Ukraine (-69.69%), Qatar (-54.09%), Kazakhstan (-50.44%), Lebanon (-46.5%), Finland (-40.86%), Sweden (-40.55%), Jordan (-33.36%), Spain (-31.14%), Italy (-30.17%), Bahrain (25%), Japan (-20.67%), Norway (12.59%), %), UK (-12.88%), Holland (9.95%) and U.A.E (8.03%).

Also, there were markets that showed significant improvements though the base figures was relatively small. They included Malaysia (21,030, +50.63%), Israel (6,525, +22.49%), Dubai (440, +35.8%), Saudi Arabia (166, +130.56%) and Syria 9136, +267.57%). ATTA does not collate data for arrivals at Phuket or other international gateways in the country, but Bangkok airport data is considered a reliable indicator of the state of tourism in Thailand.

Source=ttrweekly