CRACKDOWNS on zero-dollar tours have caused package prices to double, forcing operators to reinvent their products, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).
TAT has revealed that the price of a China-to-Thailand package now exceeds 3,000 yuan (US$450). It is now close to the price of a package from China to Japan, which starts at around 4,000 yuan.
It is hard for tour agents serving the Chinese market to woo clients as most agents had relied on zero-dollar tours for more than a decade.
“We must create value-for-money packaged tours. Beaches and food must be core products to compete with Japan because beaches in Thailand are more popular than those in Japan,” Chuwith Sirivajjakul, the director of TAT’s Shanghai office, said in his video call to the monthly meeting of the Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA) on Thursday.
As package prices rise, Thailand’s tour agents must now aim for higher-end tourists with higher purchasing power.
On the same occasion, ATTA president Charoen Wangananont said association members were hoping for minimum package prices to be set at 2,500 yuan in order to be competitive. They will propose the pricing to TAT and the details of will be finalised in October.
TAT accepted that package tour sales for the Golden Week (October 1-7) significantly dropped. During the holidays, it projected that arrivals from some Chinese cities to Thailand would decline around 30 per cent. Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket will be the most affected.
“It is a difficult time for Thailand’s tourism industry but it will be short. Our image will be better (in time),” said Charun Chuennaitom, TAT’s director in Chengdu.
Charun added that even though Thailand has lost market share to neighboring countries, Chinese tourists and agents in general reacted positively to the crackdown on zero-collar tours because they knew that they would not suffer maltreatment anymore.
ATTA reported that as of September 20, international tourist arrivals via its members increased 12.7 per cent to 4.37 million visitors. Its top three markets were China, Russia and Vietnam.
Arrivals from China grew 24 per cent year-on-year to 2.79 million visitors. Those from Vietnam increased by 20 per cent to 193,398 visitors while Russian visitors decreased by 20 per cent to 266,017 visitors.
