Arrivals to Thailand in August

Travel from Malaysia to Thailand recorded year-on-year improvement for the first time since the car bomb incident in Hat Yai, 31 March, according to the latest tourism report released by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports. Malaysia has always been Thailand’s top tourism supplier based mainly on strong overland travel, but in recent years airline travel has increased due to low-cost carriers serving routes between the two countries. During August, Thailand welcomed 240,453 Malaysians, a marginal increase of 4.2% compared to the same month in 2011, but it was viewed as a positive trend that Malaysians were again confident about travel to South Thailand. Arrivals from Malaysia registered declines since April: 22.18% in April, 16.42% in May, 11.43% in June and 24.56% in July. Ramadan this year started 20 July and ended 18 August, which contributed to a greater decline in July and a smaller than usual increase in August. Security in Hat Yai has since been beefed up. Vehicles in and out of the municipality are being checked. Hotels and departments stores also invested in more CCTV cameras, guards and introduced security checkpoints. In the latest move, Diana Department Store errected rows of cement pipes in front of the department store to reduce the  impact of a car bomb. Critics said it would undermine tourist’ confidence, but Diana executives argued that the measure made shopping safer for tourists. Despite soft travel trends in the Malaysian marker, arrivals from China continued to be robust. In August, which was still the summer holiday, Thailand welcomed 278,677 Chinese tourists, up 43.74%. Over eight months, China continues as the top source market with 1,685,896 trips growing 35.38%. Malaysia, continued in second place supplying 1,602,141 trips, posting a 5.81% drop over January to August 2011. Overall, in August, Thailand tallied 1,925,806 international tourists, improving 11.54% and that represents the most positive percentage growth recorded this year so far. From January to August, the accumulated numbers are 14,344,33, posting a 8.66% growth, marginally up from 8.34% at the end of July. August showed substantial improvements in all regions except Europe that grew just 0.5% as more than half of the identified source countries reported declines including the United Kingdom (-7.26%, 67,731) and France (-4.76%, 47,404). Even though  major markets that were finanncially sound recorded positive trends it was not as robust as in the past; Germany, +2.24% and Russia, +22.15%. The data contradicts sentiments expressed by Tourism Authority of Thailand directors who reported recently that the Eurozone crisis had not made a serious dent in tourist arrivals during the first half of the year. East Asia, including ASEAN, the largest market with 62.83% share, posted an 11.74% growth supplying 571,533 tourists. All identified source markets recorded increases except Taiwan, -16.66% (37,819) and Laos (-22.74%, 88,475). Beside China, other countries that posted impressive growth rates were Indonesia (+28.68%, 45,874), Vietnam (+20.05%, 64,177) and Singapore (+34.69%, 71,459). Arrival from South Asia, Oceania and the Middle East were robust increasing 21.01% (112,930), 26.13% (97,831) and 51.39% (65,722) respectively. The Americas grew 9.31% (73,369) and Africa, 17.53% (11,899). In August, Suvarnabhumi Airport welcomed 1,229,035 tourists (+12.17%) followed by Phuket Airport, 224,137 (+30.02%); Sadao Checkpoint on the Thai-Malaysian border in Songkhla province, 131,203 (+11.6%); First Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge checkpoint in Nong Khai province, 71,343 (-34.09%) and the Aranyaprathet checkpoint on the Thai-Cambodian border in Srakaew province, 37,117 (-32.7%). As for Thai outbound travel, the Immigration Bureau reported 571,423 trips in July, a drop of 7.07%. That was due to the Asalaha Bucha and Khao Phansa holidays falling in June rather than in July. There were 241,699 (+10.38%) outbound trips through Suvarnabhumi Airport followed by the Aranyaprathet checkpoint, 105,932 (-1.69%); Sadao checkpoint, 45,907 (+0.88%); First Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge checkpoint, 33,528 (+4.35%) and Sungai Kolok on Thai-Malaysian border in Narathiwat, 32,982 (+82.17%). The data was collected by the Immigration Bureau from all checkpoints – air, land and sea and is preliminary data subject to review. From ttrweekly