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TAT stands firm on tourism projections The Tourism Authority of Thailand has decided to keep its 2006 target for tourist arrivals at 15.12 million and its target for domestic trips at 79.33 million. The TAT's 18 directors from overseas offices and 22 directors from domestic offices yesterday delivered the results of their annual meeting on tourism marketing strategies and business plans for next year, to private operators and the media.
TAT governor Juthamas Siriwan said the agency hoped to meet its original target of 15.12 million tourists, which would generate revenue of Bt533 billion for the country. She said they also expect figures for domestic trips to reach 79.33 million, generating revenue of Bt380 billion. In terms of the overseas market, the TAT will focus on five different categories of tourist attractions: beaches, cities and historical sites, natural sites, cultural sites and sites of special interest. For its domestic plans, the agency will aim to attract various target groups including golfers, honeymooners, female tourists, senior tourists and upmarket vacationers. Juthamas said that the tourism sector is facing a tough period this year, but that the country could still easily attract around 11.4 million tourists, which is only 1.9 per cent down from its original target of 13.3 million. However, figures for those travelling within the country are expected to drop to around 74 million, 2.8 million less than the original target. The TAT plans to allocate an additional budget of Bt2.5 billion to boost the country's tourism sector in the second half of this year. Of the Bt2.5-billion budget, Bt800 million will be allocated for international marketing, Bt500 million to event activities, Bt100 million for domestic marketing and the rest to local tourism development, under the auspices of the Office of Tourism Development and the Tourism and Sports Ministry. According to figures for tourist arrivals during the first six months of this year, Bangkok International Airport saw a total of 3,859,320 visitors, an increase of 1.4 per cent on last year's 3,805,908 arrivals. However, at Phuket Airport arrival numbers have dropped by 66.16 per cent. In June 2005, Bangkok International Airport recorded 674,824 arrivals, an increase of 8.24 per cent compared to 623,427 arrivals in June 2004. Bangkok International Airport said that in the first six months of 2005, Japanese visitors made up the majority of arrivals, followed by those from the UK, Korea, the US and China. There were 487,566 Japanese visitors, up 5.2 per cent on last year's figures, followed by 294,687 UK arrivals, up 6.93 per cent. However the number of Korean visitors this year has dropped from 323,079 last year to 269,713. In terms of the figures from the rest of the long haul-market, last year's 260,663 US visitors increased by 2.01 per cent this year and this year's 246,798 Chinese arrivals marked a drop of 19.94 per cent. The latest statistics for arrivals at all ports of entry up to April this year show that the country has received a total of 3,475,135 visitors, down 9.48 per cent on the 3,839,065 arrivals last year. East Asian tourists represented 51.93 per cent of the share, at 1,804,571 arrivals, a 12.87-per-cent decrease, and arrivals figures for South Asian tourists reached 142,425, marking a slight increase of 1.02 per cent. Numbers of visitors from Australia and New Zealand increased by 2.76 per cent on last year's 142,770 arrivals and arrivals from the Middle East decreased by 10.02 per cent on last year's 72,478. There were 1,010,414 European visitors, down 8.48 per cent on last year, and 280,260 visitors from the Americas, marking a slight decrease of 0.69 per cent on last year. |