South Korean visitors exceed one million

South Korean visitors exceed one million.

Visitors to Thailand from South Korea crossed the one million mark last year, above the Tourism Authority of Thailand Seoul office's target of 970,000.

This achievement is significant, representing an increase of nearly 20 per cent over the 815,862 visitors to the Kingdom in 2005. It was a result of aggressive pro-active marketing campaigns with industry partners and via online marketing.

"We went particularly strong on Web marketing campaigns, partnering with Daum, one of Korea's hugely popular online media websites which has millions of registered members and records millions of transactions per day, as well as other partner websites such as N Tour and Epson," said Sasi-apha Sukontarat, director of TAT Seoul.

Even with regular inbound group tours flowing steadily during the peak season, a special effort was made to target quality visitors in line with the new policy of the Thai government. These key niche markets comprise families, working professionals, students, golfers, honeymooners and incentive groups.

Travel by these individuals is not limited to peak season.

Thailand is the third-most important destination for Korean visitors after China and Japan. South Korea has become one of the fastest-growing source markets for the last few years, thanks to visa-free access and plentiful airline seat capacity to Bangkok as well as to regional airports like Phuket, Chiang Mai, Hat Yai and U-tapao.

Korean Airlines, Asiana and Orient Thai Airlines all fly direct services from Korea to Thailand, with many other passengers coming via intermediate points like Taipei and Hong Kong.

In 2005, Korean visitors recorded a daily average per capita expenditure of US$ 102.4 (Bt3,685), generating foreign exchange earnings of $718.46 million.

The Nation
Friday January 12, 2007