Where Thais travelled in Q1

BANGKOK, 21 August 2012: Ministry of Tourism and Sports reported, Monday, 1,343,574 Thais travelled overseas during January to March this year representing a slight increase of 0.49% year-on-year.

Ministry data showed that Malaysia continued to be the most popular destination driven by short overland trips from southern provinces to destinations in northern Malaysia mainly for shopping and trade.

Trips to Malaysia in the first quarter of this year reached 427,202 representing an improvement of 1.83% over the same period last year.

Laos was second with 244,410 trips increasing of 3%, while Singapore was third with 85,890 trips up 1.40%. All are short –haul destinations served by cheap overland transport or low-cost airlines.

However, Singapore was ahead of all destinations reached solely by airline travel.

All the other top destinations were medium to long-haul with higher airline costs. China was in fourth place with 82,189 trips,  but outbound visits dropped slightly by 2.76%.

Although showing a decline of 4.56%, Hong Kong ranked in fifth place with 57,399 trips.

The remaining top five destinations in Q1 were: Japan (51,104; -2.42%); South Korea (44,372; +2.83%); United Kingdom (35,342; +2.55%); Germany (19,555; +2.56%); and France (5,929; +0.90%).

In the regional category, East Asia was the top area visited (Southeast Asia included in the ministry’s charts) with 1,112,833 trips, but showing just a minimal 0.90% increase over the same period in 2011.

Europe ranked second with 95,323 trips and recorded an improvement of 2.08%, while the Middle East followed in third place with 58,773 trips down 3.62%.

Oceania (Australia and New Zealand) was fourth attracting 32,011 trips with a growth of 0.03%. Meanwhile, South Asia was in fifth place with 30,753 trips increasing 1.06%.

The Americas was sixth with 12,854 trips improving, 1.33%, while Africa was seventh attracting 1,027 trips, which showed a massive improvement of 62.24% over the same period last year.

Out of 1,343,574 trips, package tour represented 231,507, while 1,112,067 were independently booked.

In the package tour market, Malaysia also was the top destination with 60,535 trips increasing 6.96% during the same quarter in 2011.

Laos was second with 29,745 trips  improving 152.20%. China  in third place with 21,755 trips gained an increase of 101.57%.

Japan followed in fourth place with 17,033 trips increasing 151.34%, while South Korea in fifth place attracted 14,053 trips improving 84.52% over the same period last year.

Meanwhile, non-package tours saw Malaysia gaining 366,667 trips a slight increase of 1.03%.

Other popular destinations for independent travel were: Laos (214,555; -4.81%); Singapore (76,425; -2.84%); China (60,434; -18.03%); Hong Kong (51,866; -5.80%); and Japan (34,017; -25.27%).

In the first quarter of 2012, the estimated outbound spend was Bt31,660.83 million, an increase of 5.38% against the same period in 2011.

Sourced: ttrweekly