
Thanet Phetsuwan, TAT deputy governor of marketing for Asiaand South Pacific, said that the current situation in East Asia has made itimpossible to generate demand, unlike more promising markets such as SoutheastAsia, South Asia and Australia.
As travel rules in the region are eased and tourists fromVietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia and Singapore can travel without quarantine ontheir return, Thailand can gain 800,000 tourists this year from Southeast Asia,Thanet assumed.
Meanwhile, an air travel bubble with India is to become effective as 12airlines from both countries are ready to operate from this month.
He said Indian travel agents already launched sales andmarketing for trips to Thailand. TAT estimated around 500,000 Indian travellerswill visit Thailand this year based on 70 percent airline capacity.
“Some 1.5 million tourists from short-haul markets arewithin our reach, but we still want to have at least 5 million arrivals fromoverall 10 million this year. However, the target will be revised in the secondhalf after we follow developments in East Asia,” said Thanet./.