Thailand News

Thailand turns eyes to Europe for ‘quality tourism’

Published

5 years ago

25/03/2016

Thailand turns eyes to Europe for ‘quality tourism’ | Samui Times

Tourism and Sports Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul has set her eyes on Europe as key market to raise Thailand’s quality tourism benchmark.

“Thailand’s focus now is on enhancing the image of Thailand to be a ‘Quality Leisure Destination through Thainess’. At the same time, we need to ensure a balance between tourism growth and its social and environmental impact,” Ms Kobkarn said during her recent visit to ITB tourism and travel trade show in Berlin.

Reviewing the country’ tourism performance in 2015, Thailand received 35.2 billion euros (B1.388 trillion) in tourism-related revenue from all international market a growth of 23 per cent over 2014. Visits reached 29.8 million, up 20% over 2014.

Arrivals from Europe have historically played a major role in the development of Thai tourism since ITB was established 50 years ago. In 2015, European visitor arrivals totalled 5.6 million generating 10.3 billion euros (B406 billion) in revenue.

In 2014, the Europe market showed the highest average length of stay of all of the regions with 16.4 days per person, with the average daily expenditure around 106 euros (B4,179). This year, Thailand is targeting a 4.38% increase in tourism revenue from the Europe market.

Europe tops Thailand’s agenda to boost upscale, niche-market tourism to the country. They included luxury travel options and niche markets such as weddings and honeymoons, wellness and spas, community-based attractions and sports tourism.

Minister Kobkarn highlighted the synergy between tourism and sports. “I would like to say that there are clear linkages between the two,” she said.

“There are more travellers who want to join sport activities in Thailand, so now we are ready to pair tourism and sports into one. Sports such as Muay Thai boxing, rock climbing, kayaking, mountain biking, marathons, golf, tennis and sailing are widely available in the country with highly skilled tuition and support services.”

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