Flight bookings show encouraging signs for Thai tourist market, reports ForwardKeys

THAILAND. ForwardKeys has released new air ticketing data which shows encouraging signs for recovery in travel to Thailand, in a tourism market which contributed US$117.5 billion to the country’s economy in 2019.

Its figures show a steady rise in forward flight bookings month-by-month for the rest of the year, with December bookings at 24% of 2019 numbers, compared to May at just 2% of pre-crisis levels (see chart). The climb in bookings coincides with the phased reopening of resort destinations, led by Phuket (see below).

In releasing its new data, the travel data analyst also highlighted some key trends on travel to Thailand for 2021. For flights booked ahead for the April-December 2021 period, the travel analyst revealed a trend which shows a longer length of stays compared to 2019 levels. Stays of 9-21 nights have witnessed a +13% increase in share compared to the pre-COVID year, accounting for 47% of all tickets.

Meanwhile, ForwardKeys noted, solo passengers are increasing their share, at 25% for the April-December 2021 period compared to 17% in 2019. Couple travel remains at similar levels (36% in 2021 vs 34% in 2019).

A steady increase in air travel to Thailand is in prospect across the rest of the year (click to enlarge)

There has been a small decrease in share for family travel of 3-5 passengers, falling to 32% in 2021 against 34% in 2019. Also, bookings for 6+ people have decreased to a 7% share in 2021 against 15% in 2019.

ForwardKeys also observes that travellers from nearby Asia countries, which contributed 25% of the share in 2019, are down to just 9%. The number of travellers from the Americas has doubled in the April-December period.

This table shows the increase in share of Europe and the Americas for forward booked flights to Thailand (click to enlarge)

ForwardKeys Director of APAC Jameson Wong said: “People are now booking longer trips abroad, preferring to travel alone and Thailand is attracting more interest from the UK and the US than Oceania (including Australia). This data reveals new opportunities for travel operators and tourism organisations in Thailand.”

In February, Thailand introduced a four-layered tourism concept, SEXY (S – Safety and Hygiene, E – Environmental Sustainability, X – Extra Experiences, and Y – Yield), to reshape the image of Thailand and help restore traveller confidence.

Wong said: “This is an exciting opportunity for Thailand to apply some of its SEXY ideas such as environmental sustainability and extra experiences to attract and retain these travellers from newer source markets by doing fresh initiatives such as rural or gastro tourism in lesser-known parts of beautiful Thailand.”

Air tickets to Thailand were boosted by the announcement on 8 February of Thailand’s four-layer tourism concept, SEXY, which promotes safe and sustainable travel (click to enlarge)

Issued tickets increased once Thailand announced the re-opening of Phuket on 26 March, ForwardKeys noted. During the week of 26 March, issued tickets increased +53% compared to the previous week, although it was still only 2.5% of 2019 levels.

In July, when Thailand is set to re-open Phuket with no quarantine, ForwardKeys also revealed that future tickets to Thailand witnessed a +90% month-over-month increase compared to June. Ticket bookings for the period reached 4% of 2019 levels compared to 2% the month before.

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