1 January 2012
Tourism revival takes wing
A strong tourism rebound in 2012 prompted the Yingluck Shinawatra administration to announce the goal of generating annual tourism revenue of 2 trillion baht. However, a concrete action plan proved slow in coming.
The announcement brought hope to tourism industry operators who had suffered an unprecedented fall attributed to the political unrest of late 2008-2010 and the 2011 flood crisis.
One urgent task was seen as addressing the lengthy queues at check-in and immigration counters at Suvarnabhumi Airport. To this end, the government scrapped its single-airport policy and encouraged low-cost carriers (LCCs) to shift to Don Mueang to ease congestion at Suvarnabhumi.
Meanwhile, October saw the start of construction to expand annual capacity at Phuket airport to 12.5 million passengers, with the project scheduled for completion in 2015. This would help to relieve congestion at that facility, which was expected to see 9 million passengers in 2012, well beyond the present capacity of 6.5 million. Given Phuket’s popularity with foreign tourists, the expansion would also give a fillip to international tourism.
Piyaman Tejapaibul, president of the Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT), said upgrading airports was important for developing sustainable tourism in the long term, as transport would play a crucial role. Plans to accelerate opening a third runway at Suvarnabhumi by 2016, and even build a fourth, were bringing bright prospects to the tourism industry.
She noted many initiatives coming up in the tourism industry. People had begun making serious preparations for the Asean Economic Community (AEC), for instance. Tourism was also recovering from the negative factors of the recent past.
Setting an annual tourism revenue target of 2 trillion baht represented a move away from arrivals targets, prompting the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to focus more on niche markets. For 2012, TAT refocused its strategy on attracting larger numbers of niche market visitors seeking holidays and experiences suited to their personal preferences and lifestyles.
Airports of Thailand Plc figures showed combined LCC movements at its six international airports grew from 3,789 aircraft with 383,024 passengers in 2004 to 40,632 aircraft with 5.8 million passengers in 2011.
1 January 2012
Tourism revival takes wing
A strong tourism rebound in 2012 prompted the Yingluck Shinawatra administration to announce the goal of generating annual tourism revenue of 2 trillion baht. However, a concrete action plan proved slow in coming.
The announcement brought hope to tourism industry operators who had suffered an unprecedented fall attributed to the political unrest of late 2008-2010 and the 2011 flood crisis.
One urgent task was seen as addressing the lengthy queues at check-in and immigration counters at Suvarnabhumi Airport. To this end, the government scrapped its single-airport policy and encouraged low-cost carriers (LCCs) to shift to Don Mueang to ease congestion at Suvarnabhumi.
Meanwhile, October saw the start of construction to expand annual capacity at Phuket airport to 12.5 million passengers, with the project scheduled for completion in 2015. This would help to relieve congestion at that facility, which was expected to see 9 million passengers in 2012, well beyond the present capacity of 6.5 million. Given Phuket’s popularity with foreign tourists, the expansion would also give a fillip to international tourism.
Piyaman Tejapaibul, president of the Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT), said upgrading airports was important for developing sustainable tourism in the long term, as transport would play a crucial role. Plans to accelerate opening a third runway at Suvarnabhumi by 2016, and even build a fourth, were bringing bright prospects to the tourism industry.
She noted many initiatives coming up in the tourism industry. People had begun making serious preparations for the Asean Economic Community (AEC), for instance. Tourism was also recovering from the negative factors of the recent past.
Setting an annual tourism revenue target of 2 trillion baht represented a move away from arrivals targets, prompting the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to focus more on niche markets. For 2012, TAT refocused its strategy on attracting larger numbers of niche market visitors seeking holidays and experiences suited to their personal preferences and lifestyles.
Airports of Thailand Plc figures showed combined LCC movements at its six international airports grew from 3,789 aircraft with 383,024 passengers in 2004 to 40,632 aircraft with 5.8 million passengers in 2011.