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Published on January 11, 2008

Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) governor Phornsiri Manoharn said travel agents and tour operators from India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam were the dominant group of buyers scheduled to attend. This will be the fifth time for Thailand to host the forum.

Of the 650 buyers who have confirmed their attendance at the event, 294 are from Asia, mainly from Singapore, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand.

Another 239 buyers are from Europe, including the UK, Germany, The Netherlands and France. Other key markets include the US and Australia. Among the sellers, the largest contingent is from the host country, Thailand (184 of the 446 organisations), followed by Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Vietnam, Burma, Brunei and Cambodia and Laos. The rest are multinational corporate organisations.

Phornsiri said the tourism industry would gradually grow along with the transportation infrastructure, especially low-cost airlines.

She said ATF 2006 attracted an estimated 56 million visitors, posting healthy growth of 8 per cent growth over 2005, with countries like Cambodia, Laos and Thailand showing double-digit growth. Intra-Asean travel accounted for 49 percent of total visitor arrivals.

The first part of ATF 208 will consist of public-sector meetings among Asean national tourism organisations (NTOs) and discussions with the NTOs of China, India, Russia, Japan and South Korea, all countries with which Asean is enjoying flourishing travel and tourism contacts.

The second part will feature Travex, a trade show that brings together buyers and sellers for business sessions. This will be held at Muang Thong Thani's Impact Challenger 2 Hall from January 21-26. On January 23, the Asean Tourism Conference will be held at the same venue.

Suchat Sritama

The Nation