The Thai Travel Agents Association has estimated the number of tourists from Japan will drop by 10-15 per cent this year due to the stronger baht and negative news from Thailand.

TTAA president Anake Srishevachart said Japanese tourists are now getting a lower exchange rate, 1,000 yen buying only Bt280 compared to Bt380 a few months ago.

Meanwhile bad news, particularly of bombings and political unrest, is making Japanese choose alternative destinations where they feel safer.

As a result, Anake said, Japanese arrivals this year will decrease by 10-15 per cent from initial projections. Japan is the biggest market for the Thai tourism industry, with one million visitors last year.

Anake urged the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and the government to do more marketing, specifically promotions to maintain this market. He added that a campaign by TAT to commemorate 120 years of Thai-Japanese relations had already failed as advance bookings from Japan were very slow for March and April.

One suggested strategy is to organise sporting tournaments in Thailand in the second half of this year to attract more Japanese.

TAT organised a road show in Japan as part of this year's marketing plan and expects that Japanese tourists will return to Thailand as a result.

In 2006 the number of tourist arrivals at international airports in Thailand reached nearly 10 million. East Asia was the highest contributor with over four million, with Japan topping one million. Arrivals from the Middle East and Africa represented the biggest increase.

According to TAT statistics, the top three countries on the international arrival lists at Bangkok's airports from January to December 2006 are all in East Asia.

Japan was top with 1,124,784, followed by China with 843,342 and Korea with 784,721. Growth rates for the Middle East and Africa were significant, with increases of 32.76 per cent and 23.15 per cent respectively.

The statistics show the total number of international visitors at the end of 2006 was 9,799,993, an increase of 15.41 per cent over the previous year.

The biggest growth was Russia with a 93.61-per-cent increase to 145,930 arrivals and Saudi Arabia with 88.13 per cent.

A slight drop was also recorded in arrivals from Nepal, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Singapore, Laos and Brunei.

Suchat Sritama

The Nation