Thailand stages fair to attract Indonesians

Dewi Santoso, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

As part of an effort to attract tourists from Indonesia, the Thai government held a fair on Monday with travel agents and tourism operators from both countries being invited.

Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) director Eumporn Jiragalwisul said that TAT had staged the event in Indonesia as the country offered huge market opportunities.

Data from the TAT shows that Thailand attracted 11 million tourists last year. Of this figure, Malaysia accounted for the biggest number (12 percent), followed by Japan (10 percent). Indonesia only accounted for 160,000 people.

However, Eumporn said that Indonesia had great potential as it had an enormous population.

"It's important to get businesspeople from both countries together as Indonesia has a huge market of around 220 million people, and Thailand has a lot to offer," said Eumporn.

Despite the fair, she expected the number of Indonesian tourists to Thailand to increase to only 170,000 this year as there were a number of obstacles that had to be overcome.

"We cannot hope for a significant increase as there aren't many direct flights available, plus, Indonesians have to pay high exit taxes whenever they travel abroad," she said.

Currently, there are only two airlines providing direct flights to Thailand: Garuda Indonesia Airlines, which serves the Jakarta-Bangkok route four times a week, and Thai International Airways, which serves the route seven days a week.

Indonesians who want to travel abroad have to pay an exit tax of Rp 1 million (US$116.3).

Titled "Amazing Thailand Road Show 2004", the event in Jakarta lasted for only one day. More than 40 travel agencies, hotels and restaurants from Thailand were in attendance, while more than 50 travel agencies from Indonesia had been invited.