• 
• 

"Thailand is getting to be a much more difficult market," Kevin McQuillan, manager for Qantas/British Airways Thailand, said yesterday.

The carrier is adding more special offers to stimulate travel during the peak season, he said.

Worldwide, British Airways saw its pas-|sengers last month drop by 6.6 per cent compared to September 2007, with premium class in the US and European markets the hardest hit by the global economic turbulence.

In Thailand, nearly 80 per cent of leisure travellers are using the Internet to plan and check prices, and half make actual bookings online, British Airways said in a survey released yesterday.

Two-thirds of Thai travellers have in the past, or plan in the future, to check in online.

Over four in five support the idea of personally offsetting carbon emissions, while speed and convenience were cited as the key benefits of using the Internet to book and manage bookings.

British Airways' Online Travel Trends 2008 Survey was conducted by Dusit Poll from August-September in Bangkok's prime business district around Silom, Sathorn and Sukhumvit roads.

All 500 respondents were Thais with a minimum income of Bt50,000 per month. The sample was split 52-per-cent women and 48-per-cent men aged 25-40.

McQuillan said 79 per cent of Thai travellers plan international trips and check ticket prices online. About 45 per cent of Thai executives book their air ticket with the company's assigned travel agency but a surprisingly high 39 per cent said they reserve international air travel themselves online. The remaining 16 per cent have their business air ticket bookings made by their secretaries.