Thailand’s confidence on the rise

Thailand’s tourism confidence index rose eight points to 108 for January to March, the Tourism Council of Thailand reported Monday.

Research for the confidence index is based on a normal confidence benchmark of 100. The index is based on data from 600 travel agencies.

TCT said Thailand tourism is in positive mode with confidence rising through Q4 of 2012 (99 points) to 108 during the first quarter of the year.

TCT concluded that the responses showed political stability had helped to built confidence, but a brighter economic outlook was also cited as a cause for optimism.

The TCT index showed that 55% of interviewed tour agencies said recovery of Thailand’s economic conditions was a key driving force in Q1 building confidence, while 45% said it was largely due to a relatively stable political situation.

In addition, 35% of respondents credited the build in confidence to public relations that encouraged tour operator confidence and 34% said it was due to government related policies that gave indirect benefits to the industry particularly the first car tax scheme that has helped to boost domestic travel.

However, 45% of those interviewed said they worried that the promotion of tourist destinations was not enough, while 39% said the influx of foreign capital into the industry was a cause for concern.

Newspapers have been reporting the influence of Russian investment in the travel business particularly in Phuket. Thai proxies are recruited to hide the fact the Russian tour companies own the Thai operations outright.

Confidence points for April to June should be higher possibly nine points over the 100 benchmark. Travel agents believe improved economic conditions (62%) and an improved political situation (49%) improved confidence  will  improve the score in the second quarter of the year. The two elements were seen to be working side-by-side and were interrelated.

However, 41% of respondent said confidence might dip in the low season and there could be a further increases in foreign capital taking over local tour companies (37%) and business competition could intensify (35%).

Most companies interviewed said they were not concerned about the minimum daily Bt300 wage rule ( 51%), while 19% said the policy would actually benefit them and 31% said it would cause problems for their business. In addition, 57% said they would not lay off employees this year while 18% said they would.

Around 45% of agents interviewed believe the government’s tourism policy will encourage more tourists to travel.  44% said the government should build a positive image for the country’s tourism industry and 43% said it should be create and support new tourism products.

The research also showed tourism operators in west Thailand rated tourism confidence in Q1 at the highest level of 120 followed by agencies in the east (118); Bangkok (115); the north (111); central plains (109); south (107); and northeast (106).

For Q2 (April to June), agencies in Bangkok rated tourism confidence at the highest level of 114 followed by the south (107); west (106); east (105); north (104); northeast and the central plains (101 each).

The index also interviewed 100 international tourists for a consumer confidence rating that showed 61% were repeat visitors, 27% were leisure travellers and 34% group travellers.

Beauty of tourist attractions was the key to attract travel to the kingdom (32%) followed by culture and religion (28%), safety (25%), and variety of activities (21%).

The index showed that 43% of the respondents researched information from the internet to make their decision to visit Thailand, while 27% used social network, and a diminishing 24% still read print newspapers and magazines.

Recommendations to improve tourism included: 35% called for tourist attractions to be improved; 25% each  identified the need to improve safety measures and accommodation; and 24% suggested the country needed a better PR effort to build good image.

The index also said Laos, Malaysia and Philippines were top destinations, besides Thailand, vying for consumer attention.

For domestic tourism, the index interviewed 300 Thais across the country. Of that, 53% planned to travel in Q2. The northeast and the north were the top regions (27% each) ahead of the central plains (26%), south and east (19% each), west (13); and Bangkok (2%).

Chiang Mai and Chon Buri were the most popular destinations for Thai tourists followed by Rayong, Ubon Ratchathani, Chiang Rai, Krabi and Kanchanaburi.

Meanwhile, 14% of those interviewed planned to travel overseas in Q2 and cited Laos, Japan, South Korea, China, and Vietnam as the top choices.

Sourced: ttrweekly