With Singapore Airlines, the Tourism Board is introducing a "Gold Coast Super Fun" package targeting Thai tourists through the end of next month.

The five-day special package is discounted to Bt41,000 per person from Bt46,000.

"We expect to receive 400 to 500 Thai visitors from this promotion," the agengy's country manager, Thongchai Wibulsaksakul, said last week.

In June, 4,400 visitors came from Thailand, bringing the six-month total to 39,000, a decrease of 5 per cent on year. Last year, 78,000 Thais visited Australia.

According to the agency's figures, 2.6 million visitors arrived in Australia during the six months to June, a decrease of 1 per cent relative to the same period of the previous year.

There were 382,500 visitor arrivals during June 2006, an increase of 1 per cent for the same month of the previous year.Last year, international tourists to Australia increased by 5.4 per cent to 5.5 million, thanks in part to a 9-per-cent increase, or 66,000 visitors, in the number of business travellers.

Businessmen are big spenders. They often come for conferences and events and stay on a few days for a holiday alone or with their families.

The agency said there had been significant growth in Chinese tourism (up by 13.4 per cent) and Indian tourism (22.5 per cent) last year.

Outbound traffic is expected to grow relatively strongly in the coming decade, in line with increasing overseas travel.

The agency said departures were expected to rise by 6 per cent to 5 million in 2006 and grow at an average annual rate of at least 2.8 per cent to reach 6.5 million over the next 10 years to 2015.

Thongchai anticipates that the flow of tourists between Thailand and Australia will increase, thanks to the operation of Jetstar Airline, which is scheduled to service the Bangkok-Melbourne and Phuket-Sydney routes from late November.

Suchat Sritama

The Nation