Domestic travelinternal tourism crisisSector set for record 60% fall in Q3

President Maiyarat Pirayakoset said domestic tourism in the first six months dropped by 40 per cent. Political uncertainty was the key fac¬tor.

She expects tourism in the third quarter to drop significantly by 60 per cent - the largest fall on record.

However, the ATD believes busi¬ness in the Central region will be much better in the rest of the year because travellers have been changing their behaviour by taking shorter trips.

"As usual, the number of travellers is expected to rebound during the last quarter as it is high season," said Maiyarat.

Charoen Wangananont, president of the Thai Travel Agents Association (TTAA), said outbound tourism from January to June was down by 1015 per cent but should return to normal in the high season.

Along with the ATD, Krung Thai Card and Thai Amadeus South East Asia, the TTAA is to hold a tourism fair in Bangkok at Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre from February 26 to March 1 next year.

The parties will spend a budget of Bt50 billion and expect to have 600,000700,000 visitors to a show that should generate revenue of Bt800 million.

There were 400,000 visitors at the same event this year, with revenue of Bt500 million.

The associations are considering organising the event twice a year, with the additional fair held in August. Moreover, they want to hold the fair in provinces such as Khon Kaen and Chiang Mai in order to stimulate domestic tourism.