THAILAND’S tourism industry is recovering from last year’s political crisis, though the rate of growth is slow and external factors such as the collapse of the rouble are causing additional problems for resort destinations like Phuket.

According to the Tourism Authority of Thailand, the country received 24.8 million visitors last year, down 6.7 per cent from 2013. The NTO has set this year’s target at 28 million.

Tourism and sports minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul told the Daily: “We are recovering, although there is not a big increase (in arrivals from the same period last year). It started picking up over the last three months. Another good sign is that the spending per head is increasing.”

While authorities say they are targeting quality tourists, mass markets such as China and Russia are important with the downturn in arrivals from the latter, adding to the local industry’s woes. This is also leading both the ministry and the NTO to focus on building business from high-spending source markets such as Europe.

“Russia is still dropping, so we are targeting other European markets,” said Kobkarn. “The quality from Europe is very good; they spend more and stay longer. We’re seeing an increase in intra-ASEAN (travellers) and we are developing the ‘Weekend Destination’ to attract people (from the region) to come to Thailand for a short break. We have everything they need here: medical, wellness, golf, food and shopping.”

Travel companies from Thailand too, say that business is starting to improve. Patricia Weismantel, product manager, Spice Roads, said: “Things are getting better from last year. We are lucky as our clients tend to be more adventurous and are less likely to be put off by the news, but it has been slow.”

Netnapa Tadakittikul, senior sales manager Asia-Pacific, Outrigger Resorts, said while the Thai market has started to recover, Phuket in particular was hit hard by the drop in visitors from Russia.

“The beginning of Q4 was starting to look good, but then we had the rouble crisis,” she said. “Russia makes up about 40 per cent of our market in Phuket. Q1 is looking okay though. The pace is slow but it is picking up, and bookings for May and June are looking good.”

Airports of Thailand reports overall passenger traffic at its six airports increased 2.53% in 2014.

AoT released details, Thursday, confirming it handled 90,528,345 passengers compared to 88,290,830 in 2013 at all of its airports.

The country’s main gateway Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport welcomed 46.42 million passengers followed by Don Mueang with 21.54 million and Phuket 11.40 million. Chiang Mai Airport handled 6.63 million passengers.

The aviation authority also reported an improvement in aircraft movements of 9.08% in December. Flights increased from 55,450 to 60,483. The entire system handled 9,359,693 passengers a slight increase of 16.47% from 8,036,049 during the same month last year.

How the airports performed

Suvarnabhumi Airport registered a decline of 4.09% in international aircraft movements from 21,761 to 20,871, while domestic movements decreased 1.88% from 5,853 to 5,743 movements.

International passenger traffic increased 7.48% from 3,695,775 to 3,972,226, while domestic passenger traffic  decreased 4.49% from 779,919 to 744,931. Overall, it accounted for a 5.39% increase in passengers from 4,475,694 to 4,717,157.

The second aviation gateway, Don Mueang Airport recorded a 24.89% increase of international aircraft movement from 3,829 to 4,782. Domestic movement posted 27.22% improvement from 10,275 to 13,072.

International passenger traffic increased 50.04% from 453,887 to 681,002, while domestic passengers up 45.91% from 1,134,644 to 1,655,564.

Chiang Mai International Airport continued to show growth in December. Both international and domestic aircraft movements registered double-digit increases of 29.93% (939 to 1,220) and 15.48% (3,747 to 4,327).

International passenger traffic grew 43.04% from 101,156 to 144,698, while domestic traffic gained 22.52% from 488,908 to 599,012.

Phuket International Airport registered an increase of 9.81% in international aircraft movements from 3,628 to 3,984, while domestic aircraft movements improved 8.17% from 2,973 to 3,216.

International passenger traffic increased 4.73% from 614,357 to 643,404, while domestic improved 11.48% from 422,281 to 470,766.

Chiang Rai International Airport reported an increase in aircraft movements of 43.35% from 835 to 1,197 while passenger traffic grew 27.70% from 119,203 to          152,222.

Hat Yai International Airport reported an overall increase in aircraft movements  of 28.63% from 1,610 to 2,071 in December. Meanwhile, overall passenger traffic registered a 30.96% growth from 225,919 to 295,868 passengers.

Thailand expects around 27.8 million tourists this year, the government said on Wednesday, up 12.2 percent on 2014 when the capital was gripped by anti-government protests and the murder of two British tourists on a holiday island made headlines worldwide.

Thailand is under martial law following the May 22 coup, but the government has vowed to attract more tourists to the country, famous for its Buddhist temples, golden beaches and raunchy night life.

“The prime minister has ordered every public sector to urgently build confidence and fix every tourist problems quickly in order to rebuild confidence for tourists, including hygiene, safety and the transport system development,” junta spokesman Yongyuth Mayalarp told reporters.

The government predicts tourism revenue to reach 1.4 trillion baht (28.42 billion pounds) from foreign arrivals this year.

The number of tourists arriving in Thailand rose for the third straight month in December, increasing 11.76 percent from the same period a year earlier, the Department of Tourism data showed, as the sector continues to recover from months of political unrest.

Tourism, which accounts for about 10 percent of the Thai economy, suffered its biggest drop in June 2014, the first full month after the coup. It started to recover in October, helped by free visas for Chinese.

Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy grew only 0.2 percent in January-September 2014 and full-year growth is likely to be less than 1 percent, the weakest since the devastating flooding of 2011.

WARM and relaxing South-east Asian destinations are preferred by Chinese outbound tourists for the upcoming Spring Festival Golden Week from February 18 to 24.

Outbound travel agencies across China are reportedly busy with reservations since mid-December, with many indicating that island destinations are the most attractive in South-east Asia.

Mao Sairong, assistant manager, Wuxi-based Jiangsu Kanghui Travel Service, told TTG Asia e-Daily: “Bali (and the Maldives) are already sold out, but we still have plenty of Phuket tours to offer, because there are seasonal charter flights between Wuxi and Phuket.”

Bangkok is the leading South-east Asian destination for outbound China travels for Golden Week, according to ForwardKeys’ air reservation database as of January 3, 46 days ahead of the festival.

The Thai capital is also by far the only city among the top five enjoying year-on-year growth (19 per cent) in current bookings, followed by Singapore, Phuket, Bali, and Chiang Mai.

However, Bali is suffering a 24 per cent year-on-year decrease in early-bird bookings, unlike the year before.

“About 35 per cent of arrivals to Bali during 2014’s Chinese New Year Golden Week were booked within 45 days (ahead of the first travelling date), while destinations in Thailand saw way more cancellations than bookings,” said ForwardKeys CEO, Olivier Jager.