Thailand arrivals down 20 percent in January
HANOI – The Tourism Authority of Thailand did its best at Asean Tourism Forum to suggest that the visitors were coming back to the country in numbers.
“Amazing Thailand is staging an amazing recovery,†said Juthaporn Rerngronasa, TAT deputy governor for marketing communications.
She said special offers from hotels and tactical marketing campaigns by TAT were beginning to work.
Juthaporn revealed that international visitor arrivals for January were 20 percent below those in the same month in 2007.
“It’s coming back, bit by bit,†she added.
TAT will launch a series of road shows in February in North Asia markets, which have been among the worst performers for Thailand this year.
Recent statistics on tourist arrivals handled by Association of Thai Travel Agents’ members revealed the biggest drop in 10 years.
ATTA reported that its members receiving customers at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in 2008 saw a 17.03% drop in business from 2,495,809 clients in 2007 to 2,070,666.
From January to December 2008, ATTA companies lost 425,143 arrivals over 2007.
The decline started in August and intensified when protestors laid siege to Bangkok’s airports for 10 days in late November and early December.
Ian Jarrett
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