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ATTA agents top heavy in Asia

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BANGKOK, 9 May 2018: On the surface Thailand’s travel agents faired just fine during the first four months of 2018, enjoying a respectable 16% increase in clients handled through Bangkok’s two airports.

The Association of Thai Travel Agents’ latest report, covering January to April, indicates members handled 2,190,839 clients.

ATTA bases its count on the fees it pays to the Airports of Thailand to meet-and-greet clients booked on tours through its travel agency members.

The 16% growth rate for inbound travel agency business is very close to the 15.39% growth in Thailand’s national tourist head count over the first quarter, suggesting agents are able to hold their own despite online competition.

But a closer look confirms the performance is dominated by China that delivered 1,333,120 bookings for travel agents up 25% during the first four months of 2018.

That’s is an impressive 60.85% market share of all the business handled by Thailand’s inbound travel agents.  If for political or commercial considerations, China pulls the plug on travel to Thailand, agents will face a grave predicament.

However, the top five country markets for ATTA agents illustrate the dominance goes beyond China to Asia.

The entire Asian region, including China, represent a 80.89% market share for Thailand’s travel agencies.

Top five markets:

China 1,333,120 visits up 25.08%; Korea’s 100,168 visits up 2.99%; India 85,103 visits up 19.86%; Vietnam 73,044 visits up 7.20% and Japan 69,410 visits up 18.40%.

Russia, 66,292 clients (6th), the UK with 35,831 clients (8th) and Germany 27,004 clients (10th) are the only three other markets of note outside of Asia that figure in the top-10 market list.

The January to April tally also indicated that four country markets suffered declines.

Despite its sixth ranking Russia saw a decline of 26.68% when compared with the first four months of 2017.

Germany with 27,004 clients was down 2.52% from 27,703 and while small it should be red flagged for more marketing attention.

The USA market delivered 12,424 clients compared with 13,213 during the four months of 2017, a decline of 5.97%.

Malaysia, which is the second largest country market in terms of tourist head count from all business sources declined for Thailand’s travel agencies by a massive 19.15% from 12,299 in 2017 to 9,994 during the first four months of 2018.

India is viewed as a strong market where travel agency clients reached 85,103, an increase of 19.86% in the first four months. The country’s high-spend wedding market is an obvious choice for promotions, but with the increase in flights from major cities across India, there are opportunities to increase package tour bookings. Bangkok and Phuket remain the favourite destinations for Indian tourists.

The Middle East is problematic for Thailand’s travel agents. The region’s bookings are down by a massive 42% over the four-month period. There was also a massive drop of 49.49% in tours handled by ATTA agents from Africa.

Unfortunately, ATTA does not provide data for tour handled at Phuket and Chiang Mai, two airports that have seen a massive growth in direct airline services. This would increase the tally for ATTA member agents.

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