Northstar

TRAVEL WEEKLY ASIA I T B A S I A S H O W D A I L I E S www.travelweekly-asia.com 12 18 OC TOBER 2018 On the ground "About 40% of our Singaporean travellers are exploring destinations other than Bangkok . Aside from Chiang Rai and Phuket, we get a lot of enquiries about less-known locations like Khao Yai National Park, which is a mountainous highland three hours away from Bangkok. Overall, interests in Thailand remain strong among Singaporeans." — Alicia Seah, director, public relations & communications, Dynasty Travel International "Malaysian travellers [to Thailand] range from 18 to 60 years old, and the group size is usually around two and above. Family-related activities, shopping, local food experiences and beauty experience — especially for women — are becoming the latest trends within the Malaysia market." — Vickie Yong, director, Airlink Travel Earlier this year, Thailand announced a lofty goal of welcoming 40 million tourists to its shores — that's five million more than 2017. By all accounts, things were going well for the Land of Smiles. From January to July 2018, Thailand saw more than 22 million tourists, up by 11% over the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports. Estimated visitor expenditure also rose significantly, up 14.44% to THB 1.18 trillion (US$35.9 billion). The top source market of visitors remained, unsurprisingly, China, with nearly seven million visitors — that's more than the next THAILAND'S SILVER LINING five countries (Malaysia, South Korea, Laos, India and Japan) combined. However, it wasn't all good news. The boat accident that claimed the lives of 47 Chinese nationals near Phuket in July did dampen the spirits of Chinese tourists. Just weeks later, 7,300 Phuket hotel room bookings for July and August 2018 were cancelled by Chinese tourists. A reason to smile Yet, Bangkok's hotel performance remained strong in July. Even though the numbers slipped by 1.3% to 79.7%, STR analysts believe that this is due to a lower- than-expected season in Bangkok, as well as a 1.2% By Will Chin Thailand is standing strong in the face of July's boat tragedy — and there are reasons for the Land of Smiles to grin again in the road ahead. increase in supply. Besides, China's annual Golden Week had only just ended less than two weeks ago. If 2017's numbers are any indication — the number of Chinese tourists to Thailand shot up by 69.8% in October 2017 compared with the same month in 2016 — Thailand is going to weather the storm just fine. PHOT0 CREDIT: EVGENY ERMAKOV/GETTYIMAGES Buddhist temple Wat Phra Singh in Chiang Mai. Singapore, by nationality, hit the one million mark — that's nearly one in three Singapore citizens, excluding foreigners and permanent residents. "We are extremely delighted to have hit this record for the calendar year of 2017! We are heartened by the performance of repeat visitors [from Singapore], which clearly shows the appeal of Thailand," said Kajorndet Apichartrakul, director, Singapore and the Philippines, TAT. "Our goal in 2019 is to achieve a longer length of stay and increase tourism spending among Singaporean visitors, whose average length of stay is 5.47 days and average spending per trip is THB 35,652." "Our goal in 2019 is to achieve a longer length of stay and an increase in tourism spending among Singaporean visitors." – KAJORNDET APICHARTRAKUL, DIRECTOR, SINGAPORE AND THE PHILIPPINES, TAT Furthermore, China is not the only source market for Thailand. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) recently launched the Thanks a Million campaign to celebrate one million Singaporean visitors to Thailand. This is a significant milestone, considering the fact that this is the first time the annual arrivals from VISIT BOOTH: E05

• Cover