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Russian tourist flow to Thailand. Record-breaking 2011 and uncertain forecasts for spring 2012

08:07, 9 февраля 2012

Powerful floods that hit Thailand during last autumn did not stop the Land of Smiles from improving their inbound tourism figures. According to Thailand Tourism Authority, the country was visited by more than 19 million foreigners in 2011, which is 20% more than in 2010. Russian tourists are 1 among Europeans.

 

December was not an exception for our tourists. About 130 thousand Russians spent the last month of 2011 in Thailand, which is 10% more, compared to December 2010. For comparison, 91 thousand tourists came from the UK (+6%), 58 thousand from Germany (-9%), 51 thousand from France (+4.5%), 43 thousand from Sweden (-37%). Overall little more than one million Russian tourists visited Thailand in 2011, which is 57% more than in 2010.

 

That said, the leaders of inbound tourism in 2011 were: Malaysia – 2.5 million people (20% increase year-on-year), China – 1.8 million (+56.8%), Japan – 1.12 million (+13%). Russia with its tourist flow took fourth place.

 

Operators mostly agree with official statistics, but with some exceptions. At the start of the winter season many new players came to work on this destination, assuming that Thailand will be a substitute for Egypt. But the forces of nature spoiled the operators’ game. The amount of air service that was announced before the flood quickly stopped to correspond with the level of demand.

 

“There was no decrease in tourist flow only because operators kept dropping the prices”, notes Irina Petrova, general manager of Solvex-travel. The low-balling in Thailand during autumn was no less cruel than the one in Greece during summer. And operators are dumping prices not only to compete with each other. One of the problems is the relations with air carriers, thinks the RATA-news source. “Contracts were written in a way that operators could not decline booked flights without having to suffer serious losses, when the floods started; so they eventually had to lower the prices on their tours”, - explains Mrs. Petrova. She also pointed out that the price drop on Thailand also allowed the whole region of South-East Asia to become cheaper.

 

The hopes of the travel industry that in late January – early February flights to Thailand would be being loaded better were not fully justified, because the surplus of transportation is still there. According to some forecasts, low-balling will persist until the summer flight schedule is introduced.

 

Irina Petrova also urges market players to be very careful, considering the events in Thailand that happened after Lanta-tour went bankrupt. The image of the whole destination was somewhat spoiled by the actions of some hoteliers, who tried to extort money from Lanta tourists, making them pay for their stays once more. “Russians are shocked by what’s happening. It’s possible that this will affect the tourist flow”, - assumed the general manager of Solvex-travel.

 

Forecasts of other operators, concerning Thailand’s image, are more optimistic. Marina Makarkova, PR-director of Tez Tour, says that the incident with Lanta tourists did not in any way affect the demand for Thailand. According to her, the depth of sales in the Siberian region – Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Novosibirsk and Khabarovsk – is about one month. Moscow’s depth is around 2-3 weeks. Also, there are already some reservations for April - May.

 

According to Anna Podgornaya, general manager of Pegas Touristik, the negative impact of hoteliers’ actions could be evaded thanks to Rostourism and the consulate getting involved in the situation. “February is still high season in Thailand. The prices are at last year’s level. We’re not seeing any downfall in sales”, - states Mrs. Podgornaya.

 

Yet some experts think that the latest events will cause tourists to ask for written confirmation from tour operators of the hotel being paid forward. Something like that has already happened after Capital Tour went bankrupt.

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