TAT expecting nearly a million visitors from India this year to help recovery of tourism sector
Thailand is expecting a surge in travellers from India to boost the Thai tourism industry, as they are the second biggest market this year behind Malaysia, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) reported.
The TAT reported recently that 561,656 Indian tourists entered Thailand in the first nine months of 2022, while the number of Malay tourists recently reached 1 million on October 3.
Thanet Phetsuwan, TAT deputy governor of marketing for Asia and South Pacific, said that the authority expected the number of Indian tourists to reach 800,000 to 900,000 at the end of this year as forward booking numbers for the fourth quarter exceeded 60 per cent.
Meanwhile, 66,877 seats of flights from South India were reserved each week for the winters of 2022 and 2023, up 42.2 per cent from the summer of this year.
Several airlines are interested to open more routes and flights. Thai VietJet, for instance, is asking for slots to fly from minor cities in India to Thailand.
According to an Indian media outlet, “Business of Travel Trade [BOTT]”, a survey showed more than 60 per cent of Indian tourists wanting to visit Thailand. “The BOTT Travel Sentiment Tracker” survey of 8,500 Indian millennials was conducted from August 1 to September 15.
Nearly 82 per cent of them planned to travel with their family this year while 56 per cent chose to travel outside the country. Among nearby destinations in the high season, 62 per cent of them were interested in travelling to Thailand, while 55 per cent were interested in Singapore.
They were also interested in United Arab Emirates (52 per cent), Maldives (43 per cent), and Vietnam (36 per cent).
Among far-away destinations, 47 per cent were interested in the United States, followed by France (46 per cent), the United Kingdom (45 per cent), Germany (44 per cent), and Switzerland (43 per cent).
Of the top five destinations, 36 per cent of them wanted to visit popular tourist and shopping destinations, 31 per cent chose beaches, followed by luxury hotels and resorts (29 per cent), adventure destinations and mountains (25 per cent), and historical destinations (22 per cent).
Thanet said, “The average staying period for Indian millennials is between five to seven days and they choose to stay in more luxury hotels and resorts.”
Meanwhile, Thai AirAsia sees growth potential in the Indian and South Asia markets and has launched two flights from Don Mueang Airport to Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka with four flights per week on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
It will also fly to the northern Indian city of Lucknow with three flights per week — on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday.
Both flights will be available from November 24, as the airline aimed to attract North Indian tourists.
The airline’s chief executive officer, Santisuk Klongchaiya, said that tourism is active again after Covid-19 has eased, while the Indian and South Asian markets were growing quickly.
He said that the airline has started seven routes from Don Mueang Airport to six Indian cities — Kolkata, Kochi, Jaipur, Bengaluru, Chennai, Gaya — and to the Maldives. Every route was well received as Indian travellers were ready to spend in Thailand.
Nuntaporn Komonsittivate, head of commercial of Thai Lion Air, said that the airline has one flight from India, which was the Don Mueang-Mumbai flight.
The route flew daily with almost 100 per cent of passengers being Indian tourists. She expected the load factor in the fourth quarter to be 65 per cent, which is close to the average load factor of around 60 to 65 per cent.
