Krid Pattanasan
Incentives from the Macau government for the airline industry may further assist in attracting tourists from Thailand to Macau, an AirAsia executive told the Times yesterday.
The Thailand-originated airline company held a media event yesterday to officially announce resumption of flights from Macau and Hong Kong to Thailand. The event was co-organized by the Hong Kong Office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).
Krid Pattanasan, director of government relations of the airlines, made the comment on the sidelines of the event, when he was asked how AirAsia will help attract tourists to visit Macau. The Macau government has deemed the non-Greater China Region as a key source of visitors.
Stressing the round-trip nature of commercial air transport, Pattanasan assured that there will be people travelling to Macau from Thailand. To entice more people to take the company’s flights, the executive emphasized that awareness and promotional campaigns would be established to encourage more Thai people to visit Macau.
He then passed the ball back to the Macau government, saying that if specific policies or incentives are formulated not only for Thai tourists, but also air carriers, “we would appreciate [the goodwill].”
Although flights between Macau and Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok have been resumed, the frequency has only returned to about 50% compared to before Covid-19, Pattanasan revealed. He expects full resumption to happen by the end of this year.
For the time being, the company has only resumed services to a single destination, with two flights per day. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, the company had other routes from Macau, such as to Phuket. When asked to forecast the timetable for additional destinations, the executive suggested the end of the year.
He explained that the main difficulty of additional services is staffing, which is a challenge across the aviation industry. With recruitment on track, he expects additional services should commence by the end of the year.
At the same event, Naparat Vudhivad, head of the TAT Hong Kong Office, predicated that approximately 700,000 Hong Kong and Macau people will visit Thailand this year. A presentation at the event showed that when the Hong Kong government announced the “0+3” mode of health management in September last year, the number of Hong Kong and Macau people visiting Thailand crept towards 10,000 for the month of September.
When the Hong Kong government eliminated even the “0+3” mode on Dec. 13, the number soared to over 57,000 people. In the first two months of the year, about 100,000 Hong Kong people have visited Thailand.
Vudhivad expects the upcoming Songkran – Thai New Year – will be even more appealing to tourists from Hong Kong and Macau.
After three years of travel restrictions, the Thai official spoke about the Thai government’s emphasis on sustainable tourism. For example, the official underlined a series of locations in Bangkok, Phuket and Chiangmai that offer ecological, mountainous and aquatic travel, giving tourists the opportunity to embrace nature.
Branding this year’s tourism promotional campaign as Amazing New Chapters, the official explained, the Thai government aims to create meaningful tourism experiences that will benefit the community and the environment as well.
For instance, tourists will be brought underwater to save injured corals and maintain marine biodiversity. A series of events will also be held in Ko Tao Island to observe World Ocean Day. Mountaineers, on the other hand, will be able to enjoy glamping activities, including but not limited to sleeping in a glass hut under the stars along with the smell of nature. Anthony Lam, Hong Kong
