Thailand Tourism Shows Growth in 2010

Thailand will continue to be the most preferred destination in Southeast Asia in the next two years as it represents good value for money, says the Visa-Pata Asia Pacific Travel Intentions Survey 2010.

The survey of 6,714 participants in thirteen countries showed that Thailand was the top tourist destination in the region for UK and Australian tourists.

Some 52% of UK respondents said they were looking to visit Australia, thiry four percent chose Thailand and thirty two percent chose New Zealand. For Australian tourists, fourty three percent preferred New Zealand, thirty nine percent Thailand and thirty two percent Singapore.

Somboon Krobteeranon, country manager of Visa Thailand, said the intentions of international travellers to consider visiting Thailand in the next two years reflected a positive tourism outlook after the country had put much effort into restoring travellers' confidence after the unrest.

Travellers from the UK and Australia are likely to visit the Kingdom with their spouses or partners and prefer to stay at four-star hotels. They are also likely to spend more than US$2,000 per trip on average, stay 10-14 days and are willing pay more for good food, cultural experiences and exotic destinations.

Juthaporn Rerngronasa, deputy governor for international marketing at the Tourism Authority of Thailand, said the UK market generated tourism revenue of 42 billion baht in 2009 and the length of stay was 16 days.

In the first 9 months of this year, international tourist arrivals were 11.21 million, up 13.3% from the same period last year.

Source: The Bangkok Post