Chiang: North needs air links

Northern destination need more direct air links to boost regional tourism, according to Chiang Mai Tourism Business Association president, Sarawut Saetiao. Talking to TTR Weekly late last week he said Chiang Mai’s tourism sector had asked the government to introduce measures to encourage more direct flights to the province to boost revenue for tourism industry. “While we are happy with the direct fights that already serve Chiang Mai, this is a gateway to the North and more could be done to encourage airlines and build business for the future,” he said. “For the past two years, Chinese and Russian visitors have increased dramatically to Thailand, but very few of them are travelling north. They are going mostly to beach resorts,” he said. The association’s response is to work with Phuket and Hat Yai in the hope they can draw visitors on trips to the North using Chiang Mai as the gateway. “For example, if we had direct flights from Russia we could build packages that featured Chiang Mai,  Hat Yai or Phuket.” Japan and Shanghai, in China were also identified as important markets. “Direct flights from Japan would support the long-stay market as there are over 3,000 Japanese retirees living in the province right now.” He even suggested Chiang Mai should be a candidate to a host a Formula One style event. But the main emphasis will be on promoting the Chiang Mai Convention Centre and to build business tourism related to meetings, government events and incentives. Efforts to establish what is called a cultural package tagged “Five Chiangs”– Chiang Mai; Chiang Rai; Chiang Khong; Chiang Rung (Jinghong) and Chiang Tung. But transport links and airline services make the route difficult to follow for time-pressed travellers. Chiang Mai is considered the main gateway to North Thailand, while Chiang Rai 180 km to the north due to its borders touching both Laos and Myanmar is positioned as the gateway to the Mekong Region. Taglines aside, both cities are far behind in attracting the attention of international airlines. The attitude is “we are here so you should fly”, but the airlines are quick to respond that without supporting incentives and seed money launching direct services even from ASEAN is financially risky. Tourism leaders in the North are making the mistake of putting the cart before the horse. They are developing land tours, sightseeing adding hotels, organising expensive promotions and media advertisements, but not considering that they need more nonstop services from Asian gateways to support the tourism infrastructure on the ground. Without nonstop flights, the travelling time from Hong Kong, Singapore, Jakarta and Malaysia when connections are included make it a five to seven-hour journey. Financially, it suits the airlines to feed traffic through connecting services, but it is not in the best interests of regional travellers to have to spend all day to reach destinations that are essentially a three-hour nonstop flight away from ASEAN capital cities. Ministry of Tourism and Sports’ Chiang Mai Provincial Office director, Churirat Preawprai, acknowledged there are insufficient direct flights a key factor that is deterring tourists making trips to Chiang Mai. “Direct flights to Chiang Mai should be increased to generate more arrivals and revenue especially. Phuket is an example of how it works.” Chiang Mai airport also needs more jet bridges to serve passengers’ convenience. Currently, there are only seven jet bridges which there should be at least 12. Meanwhile, Chiang Mai Provincial Administrative Organisation president, Boonlert Buranupakorn, urged the government to force THAI Airways International to operate direct flights between the province and key markets. “THAI Airways is the flagship carrier and must pioneer routes to connect to main destinations  instead of considering only profit as it does today.” Currently, there are 11 direct flights to Chiang Mai. From ttrweekly