The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) plans to expand the market of prospective tourists to African countries including Botswana, Namibia and Mauritius.

The agency recently concluded a week-long roadshow to South Africa and believes there is potential to bring more visitors from the continent.

Of the 110,500 African tourists who visited Thailand last year, 47,000 were from South Africa.

TAT director Tanes Petsuwan said the agency would focus on quality African tourist groups in line with the government’s policy of attracting visitors with high purchasing power.

Mr Tanes said there were a number of premium travellers in Africa and based on a report by the Thai Embassy in Johannesburg, potential markets beyond South Africa include Angola, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mozambique, Lesotho and Swaziland.

Twenty-four Thai travel agencies met with 17 tour buyers from South Africa during the roadshow that ended last Thursday. They hope that the trip would result in 57,000 tourist arrivals from South Africa this year, up from 47,000 last year.

Juthaporn Rerngronasa, the TAT deputy governor for overseas marketing, said the agency would team up with Tomsons Tour Agency to introduce attractive marketing campaigns.

Tomsons is South Africa’s largest wholesale travel agency, attracting about 5,000 tourists from South Africa to Thailand last year, she said.

Campaigns include advertising and commercials on TV, radio and the internet in large cities including Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, she said.

Mrs Juthaporn said the tour packages would focus on families, honeymoon couples, businessmen and shoppers.

“Attractions will not only be popular islands such as Phuket and Samui but Chiang Mai … South Africans are also interested in historical venues and Thai culture,” she said.

Thailand has stepped up efforts to capture tourism revenue from new markets because Asian tourist arrivals have fallen in the first half of the year, especially from Japan, which fell 5-6% due to political and security concerns.

Tourists from South Africa express fewer worries over Thai politics, according to Brenda Mitchell, sales manager of Royal Orchid Holidays.

She said tourists considered Thailand a safe place compared to South Africa where crime rates are high.

She added that tourism to Thailand was expected to rise significantly when Thai Airways International opens direct flights between Bangkok and Johannesburg three times a week.

THAI is considering increasing the flights to five times per week to respond to growing demand.

Hotel operators in Phuket see South Africa as a promising market for the low season, which is winter in South Africa.

“Normally, they prefer making overseas trips during late July, and November to February, which is good because Thai hotels would be busy taking care of European tourists from December to January,” said Chanyanath Panthusak, assistant director of the Burasari Hotel in Phuket.

Source: BangkokPost