Thailand seeks to attract one million Russian tourists
In its endeavour to revive the tourism industry after the Covid-19 pandemic, Thailand is now banking on Russia as strong source market after having campaigned heavily in India and Saudi Arabia.
The expectations are based on an announcement by Russia’s state airline Aeroflot that it would resume daily direct flights to Thailand’s southern resort island Phuket. The flights are expected to be revived in winter after they were halted earlier this year due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Overall, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is expecting one million Russian visitors, without giving a timeframe. Phuket alongside Pattaya used to be among the most popular destinations for Russian in Thailand.
However, some observers doubt that the Phuket flight would lead to such a strong influx of Russian tourists as the lack of connectivity remains an issue.
Thai government data shows that as of July 26, the number of Russian visitors to Thailand stood at 76,739, with most entering the country during the first quarter before the conflict in the Ukraine started.
Russia-Ukraine conflict casts shadow
Flights from Russia were severely impacted after the European Union imposed various sanctions against Russia, including bans of flights and airplane maintenance, and it is not clear whether other Russian airlines will follow the national carrier in flying again to Thailand. Besides Aeroflot, several other Russian carriers suspended flights to Phuket since March this year.
A TAT official said “many airlines” from Thailand, such as Thai Airways and Thai AirAsia X, were interested in operating this route to replace the Russian carriers, but were unable to do so due to sanctions by the European Union.
Critics voice anger
On social media, critics voiced anger about Thailand’s fixation on Russian tourists amid a serious armed conflict in Europe, noting that it could lead to tensions between Russian holidaymakers and other visitors opposing the conflict.
In a separate note, the Thai tourism ministry on August 2 said that the number of international tourists to Thailand this year totaled about 3.12 million between January 1 and July 26. While this is significantly more than in the previous six months, it is clearly a far cry from the glory pre-Covid 19 days when full-year arrivals reached nearly 40 million in 2019.
[caption id="attachment_26599" align="alignleft" width="300"] Restaurant sign in Russian at a beach in Phuket[/caption] In its endeavour to revive the tourism industry after the Covid-19 pandemic, Thailand is now banking on Russia as strong source market after having campaigned heavily in India and Saudi Arabia. The expectations are based on an announcement by Russia’s state airline Aeroflot that it would resume daily direct flights to Thailand’s southern resort island Phuket. The flights are expected to be revived in winter after they were halted earlier this year due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. Overall, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is expecting...
In its endeavour to revive the tourism industry after the Covid-19 pandemic, Thailand is now banking on Russia as strong source market after having campaigned heavily in India and Saudi Arabia.
The expectations are based on an announcement by Russia’s state airline Aeroflot that it would resume daily direct flights to Thailand’s southern resort island Phuket. The flights are expected to be revived in winter after they were halted earlier this year due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Overall, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is expecting one million Russian visitors, without giving a timeframe. Phuket alongside Pattaya used to be among the most popular destinations for Russian in Thailand.
However, some observers doubt that the Phuket flight would lead to such a strong influx of Russian tourists as the lack of connectivity remains an issue.
Thai government data shows that as of July 26, the number of Russian visitors to Thailand stood at 76,739, with most entering the country during the first quarter before the conflict in the Ukraine started.
Russia-Ukraine conflict casts shadow
Flights from Russia were severely impacted after the European Union imposed various sanctions against Russia, including bans of flights and airplane maintenance, and it is not clear whether other Russian airlines will follow the national carrier in flying again to Thailand. Besides Aeroflot, several other Russian carriers suspended flights to Phuket since March this year.
A TAT official said “many airlines” from Thailand, such as Thai Airways and Thai AirAsia X, were interested in operating this route to replace the Russian carriers, but were unable to do so due to sanctions by the European Union.
Critics voice anger
On social media, critics voiced anger about Thailand’s fixation on Russian tourists amid a serious armed conflict in Europe, noting that it could lead to tensions between Russian holidaymakers and other visitors opposing the conflict.
In a separate note, the Thai tourism ministry on August 2 said that the number of international tourists to Thailand this year totaled about 3.12 million between January 1 and July 26. While this is significantly more than in the previous six months, it is clearly a far cry from the glory pre-Covid 19 days when full-year arrivals reached nearly 40 million in 2019.
