November 03, 2008 15:35 PM
By D. Arul Rajoo
BANGKOK, Nov 3 (Bernama) -- There was only a slight dip in the number of Thai tourist arrivals in Malaysia in the first nine months of the year, despite the increase in travel cost, high oil price, economic slowdown and political crisis in the Kingdom.
Iskandar Mirza Mohd Yusof, Tourism Malaysia's senior deputy director (research and industrial division), said about 1.1 million Thais visited the country between January and September, as compared to 1.14 million during the same period last year.
"It was a slight decrease and was basically due to the high oil price which affected world travelling, and the political situation in Thailand.
"But this is minimal and we hope to target more Thai tourists, with more promotional programmes being undertaken now," he said after leading a delegation to participate in the 14th Discovery Thailand and Discovery World expo here.
He said Malaysia, which received 20.97 million visitors from throughout the world last year, with tourist receipts of RM46.1 billion, saw a 14.1 per cent decrease in Thai arrivals from 1.89 million to 1.62 million last year.
Thailand remained the third biggest market for Malaysia as Singapore again topped the ranking in the first nine months of this year, with 8.1 million visitors, followed by Indonesia's 1.7 million.
Iskandar, who was accompanied by Tourism Malaysia for Thailand director Sani Sham Ahmad, tourism officials from Perak, Selangor, Penang, Melaka and Langkawi, as well as travel agencies, also met representatives from Thai travel associations, tour agencies and the media during his visit.
He said a survey undertaken by Tourism Malaysia showed that Thai tourists preferred sight-seeing, visiting cultural and heritage sites, shopping and soft adventure activities like trekking in places such as Taman Negara.
"During the expo, we highlighted more attractions in Langkawi, Perak, Selangor and Penang, as these are states which have high impact on Thai tourists and can be easily accessed by road and flights.
"We have special packages and products catered for Thais," he added.
Other key segments promoted in Thailand include MICE and special interest promotions like education or possibly exclusive services that cater for the high-end and niche market, said Iskandar.
"Unique experiences like the cable car in Langkawi are popular among Thais. But we realise that the lack of direct flights is hampering our promotion of Langkawi, especially after Thai AirAsia cancelled its flight there...but we are looking at charter flights," he said.
Source: BERNAMA
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