News by Phuket Andaman Villas

Following establishment of Phuket as the regional air hub, The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) expects to attract more than 400,000 Vietnam tourists this year. Director of TAT office at Ho Chi Minh City, Pichai Raktasinha, exposed that despite of cracking the psychological barrier, the figure is realistic considering the continuously increasing figures recorded in the past, 337,000 in 2008 and 362,000 in 2009.

So far most Vietnam tourists choose Bangkok and Pattaya as their favorite targets. However with availability of direct flight between Phuket and Ho Chi Minh City provided by AirAsia, TAT believes that there will be more Vietnamese visits directly to Phuket and possibly continues to other popular destinations in southern Thailand such as Phang Nga, Krabi, and Koh Samui.

Flood of holiday makers has also gone in the reverse direction with about 160,000 Thais visited Vietnam last year. Popular Vietnam holiday destinations for Thais include Ho Chi Minh City, Danang, and Ha Long Bay. The last one, declared as one of World Heritage Site by UNESCO, is formation of karst islands similar to Thailand’s Phang Nga Bay.

Unfortunately the number of Thais visiting Vietnam is predicted to decrease this year due to political and economic unrest in Thailand. The situation was confirmed by Chuenjit Chotewittayakul, AirAsia’s Marketing Manager who said that flights from Phuket to Ho Chi Minh City have more empty sites than the opposite direction, more than a half of passengers are Vietnamese whilst most of the remainder are non-Thais.

AirAsia’s hub in Phuket currently serves five regional services to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Medan, and Ho Chi Minh City as well as direct domestic services to Chiang Mai, Udon Thani, and Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, most of which are almost full except Medan and Ho Chi Minh City. In its expansion plan it will also launch service to India still this year.