Short-haul market push targets 21m visitors this year
Pattaraanong Na Chiangmai, TAT Deputy Governor for International Marketing – Asia and the South Pacific, said the plan to stimulate the short-haul market in 2026 aimed to attract 21 million tourists from short-haul markets this year.
Growth in the main markets showed East Asia had notable growth.
Chinese tourists in particular were showing increasingly positive signals, at about 7% growth, and Indian tourists had grown by about 8%, while Russian tourist numbers were close to normal-period levels at about 900,000.
The challenge was that although ASEAN overall had slipped slightly, by about 8%, because of a decline in Malaysian tourists, South Korea, currently down 19%, was a group for which TAT was preparing special strategies to regain momentum.
TAT will focus on restoring air capacity.
TAT aims for airline capacity to return to above 2019 levels, or more than 100%, from the current recovery of about 80-90% in many markets.
It will promote new routes, working with airlines such as Vietjet to open new services from Hanoi to Udon Thani and Khon Kaen to meet demand from people seeking to visit their hometowns or travel for culture.
It will also pursue win-win cooperation strategies, such as cooperation with Vietnam to draw tourists from third countries to connect onwards to Thailand.
It will also target quality segments, such as families, with proactive marketing during school holidays between July and August, especially from the Chinese and Indian tourist markets, and focus on the leisure segment, targeting those deciding to travel during the year-end tourism season.
However, amid volatile global economic conditions, short-haul markets have a distance advantage, making travel decisions easier and faster than in long-haul markets.
It will also link tourism routes, connecting major cities with secondary cities and promoting convenient routes such as Bangkok to Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat), which takes less than one hour.
It will also push a short-haul flight strategy by supporting connecting flights to regional airports, such as Chiang Mai-Chiang Rai or Surat Thani-Nakhon Si Thammarat, to distribute tourists to communities.
TAT will also build international partnerships, using memorandums of understanding or letters of intent (MOU/LOI) with partners and airlines in short-haul markets to exchange information and customer bases, a key strength in pushing towards its revenue and tourist-number targets.
Long-haul target set at 10 million visitors to Thailand
Chiravadee Khunsub, TAT Deputy Governor for International Marketing – Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa, said that for the long-haul market in 2026, TAT was looking at 10 million tourists.
It had laid out proactive strategies to attract “Quality Volume” tourists, focusing on increasing revenue and tourism value rather than tourist numbers alone.
TAT will prioritise an Airline Focus strategy because the most important factor for long-haul markets is “access”.
TAT is therefore prioritising close work with airlines to increase air capacity, including resumed flights such as British Airways returning to direct flights from London and Manchester to Bangkok.
Other airlines include Virgin Atlantic and Air Canada.
It will also promote new routes, such as LOT Polish Airlines starting direct flights from Poland to Thailand for the first time in July this year, while the Polish market has grown by as much as 16%.
Despite geopolitical challenges, several long-haul groups have shown signs of growth, including Europe.
Markets with outstanding growth include Scandinavia (Sweden +15%), Poland (+16%) and Italy (+10%).
The Americas market remained at a good level and was highly resilient.
At the same time, TAT will emphasise communications and products for quality markets, including working through partnerships, cooperating with media partners to target the super-luxury segment in Europe, communicating a premium tourism image, and creating a new perception that Thailand is not merely a general leisure destination but a centre of wellness and sustainability.
It will also drive Thailand towards world-class events, with the highlight being Tomorrowland 2026 on a full-scale basis in December, which will be an important tool for stimulating interest among younger travellers worldwide.
Tickets and accommodation in Pattaya have already been fully booked for that period.
