PHUKET WELCOMES CHARTER FLIGHTS FROM PARIS
Dec 22, 2008


Phuket, Thailand, 22 December 2008 – Phuket will welcome more visitors from Paris, France as XL Airways France starts flying directly from Paris to the ‘Pearl of the Andaman’.

For its inaugural flight — XL F074, XL Airways France will fly the 364-seat Airbus A330-200 bound for Phuket on Sunday, 21 December, 2008. The flight is scheduled to arrive in Phuket on 22 December, 2008, at 5.30 p.m. The airline will operate a once-a-week flight to Phuket and will continue its charter flight operations until April 2010.

According to Mrs. Phornsiri Manoharn, Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), the charter flight operation is a result of cooperation between wholesalers in France including big names like Best Tours, Thomas Cook, Club Med, Jet Tours, Nouvelles Frontieres, and Look Voyages. For the inaugural flight, TAT has joined hands in organizing a media familiarization trip for about four magazine writers from Paris to survey the Andaman Sea between 18-23 December, 2008. They will feature Thailand in their respective publications as a follow up to previously published positive articles and travel documents about the promotion campaign. This is expected to help boost more travel to Thailand from France.

Despite the current financial crisis and the recent closure of Bangkok’s two airports, both of which have slowed long-haul travel, a weekly charter flight operating directly from Paris confirms that there is an existing demand and that Thailand is still attracting favourable attention as a preferred destination. “It also confirms Thailand’s status as the number one Asian market for French visitors,” the Governor noted.

Thailand is attracting a growing number of repeat visitors which captured a market share of 94.9% in 2007. This shows that French visitors are satisfied with the holiday experience in Thailand and are coming back to see other places that they may have missed on their previous trips. In January – July 2008, Thailand welcomed 246,188 visitors from France, a slight 2.69% rise from 216,121 from the same period of 2007.

We expect to welcome about 373,000 French visitors in 2008, up about 6.72% over 2007 and generate tourism income of 22.2 billion Baht.

TAT is working to tap new emerging segments including cosmetic tourism, cruise, golf, and diving, as well as retirees, to ensure that Thailand remains the number one Asian destination for French visitors in the years to come.

Best Tours has also launched a special summer Thailand brochure 2008 promoting “All Inclusive” programmes for 9 days with prices starting from 1,200 Euro per person. The initiative will encourage family travellers to spend their summer holidays in 2009 in Phuket, Krabi and Khao Lak.

Tourist arrivals to Thailand at Phuket International Airport during January and August this year totalled 829,083, an increase of 5.24% from 787,827 arrivals during the first eight months of 2007.

Contact information:
International Public Relation Division
Tourism Authority of Thailand
Tel: +66 (0) 2250 5500 ext. 4545-48
Fax: +66 (0) 2253 7419
E-mail: prdiv3@tat.or.th
Web site: www.tatnews.org

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