The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has announced its latest official visitor figures from the UK and Ireland to Thailand. Arrivals from the UK, in 2006, reached a notable 745,525, a 9.48 per cent increase on the previous…
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has announced its latest official visitor figures from the UK and Ireland to Thailand. Arrivals from the UK, in 2006, reached a notable 745,525, a 9.48 per cent increase on the previous year’s statistics.
Arrivals from Ireland increased by 13.97 per cent over 2005 statistics to 56,994, giving a combined total of 802,519 visitors from the UK and Ireland.
Tamara Diethelm, Product Manager at Kuoni is very pleased with Thailand sales and commented “Thailand has seen a growth of almost 150% in bookings since the 2005 tsunami and the results are an accolade to the strength and determination of the Thai people and the excellent partnerships in the industry between hoteliers, airlines and the tourist board. Throughout 2007 we have seen increased interest in the smaller, off the beaten track islands and boutique properties are gaining in popularity also. This trend is set to continue into 2008 based on current booking patterns”.
December was the busiest month of the year by far with 86,210 UK visitors, an increase of 9.8% per cent on last year’s statistic. The second busiest month for UK visitors was November with 69,065 arrivals.
Commenting on Thailand’s growth Mr Tanes Petsuwan, Director of TAT London, “We are delighted with Thailand’s progress and TAT far exceeded its target of 700,000 UK visitors thanks to a large influx towards the end of the year. Full credit must be given to our partners for their continued support”.
A spokesperson from Thai Airways London office said the upturn in TAT’s figures for that time was reflected in their own passenger figures. ‘Lie-flat’ beds together with VOD in-flight entertainment encouraged the leisure passenger to experience the additional comfort of Royal Silk Class service. Thai operate twice daily non-stop to Bangkok and have an extensive flights within Thailand.
Globally, the UK and Ireland have the sixth largest number of visitors to Thailand after Malaysia, Japan, Korea, China, and Singapore. Within Europe, the UK and Ireland hold the largest share of visitors to Thailand. Arrivals from the UK alone accounted for 22.4 per cent of the total arrivals from the European market.
Looking ahead to 2007
TAT has set a target of 14.8 million international visitor arrivals for 2007 with hopes of generating estimated revenues of 547.5 billion baht (approximately £8.5 billion). TAT London, based on the successful statistics of 2006, has set a target of 882,514 visitors from UK and Ireland for 2007, an estimated growth of 9.96% Figures recently released from Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok show just over 500,000 UK and Irish arrivals from January to August 2007, a great achievement for 2007 so far.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
