ATTA looks on the bright side
September 6, 2010 by TTRweekly Staff
Filed under News
BANGKOK, 6 September, 2010 – Association of Thai Travel Agents’ members handled 148,234 tourists at Suvarnabhumi Airport in August, up 13.90% from 130,149 tourists in August 2009, the association reported Friday.
Its January to August data showed an even better result with meet-and-greet services up 24.12%. Member companies handled 1,292, 789 visitors compared with 1,041,575 tourists in the same period in 2009.
ATTA monitors only the meet-and-greet services of its member companies at Suvarnabhumi Airport. There is no data collection for similar services offered in Phuket, Chiang Mai or Samui.
“Compared with the performance, earlier this year, the result is very encouraging,” said Association of Thai Travel Agents president Surapol Sritrakul during his presentation at ATTA’s monthly meeting held last week at Amari Watergate Hotel, Bangkok.
However, he noted that comparisons with 2009 had to take into account global recession and the aftermath of the December 2008 airport closures in Bangkok, which slowed travel demand.
But for most members they took some comfort from the performance believing it could have been much worse based on trends monitored April through to June.
ATTA’s members saw visitors handled plunge to just 120,288 (-13.19%) in April, 69,107 (-31.06%) in May and 76,040 (-16.98%) in June in the aftermath of a prolonged demonstration which paralysed the shopping district of Ratchaprasong 3 April to 19 May.
“We’re not doing well in terms of hotel occupancy for the 2010 high season mainly due to the State of Emergency in Bangkok and many countries still have travel warnings which hold tourists back, especially in Japan,” Mr Surapol said.
“But there are bright spots too, he noted. “We gained in the Russian and Scandinavian markets.”
Highlights in August are:
China was the top performer January to August with 196,179 tourists, followed by Russia 144,590, India 123,527, Japan 97,562 and Korea 92,350.
International Tourists Received by ATTA’s Members at Suvarnabhumi Airport
