11/08/2019 16:07

Thailand Went Down

The Thai market is experiencing the seasonal drop in demand. Now a ten day tour to Thailand with 3* accommodation is around $580–600, while some tour operators have special offers at the prices that slightly exceed the cost of a flight - $480. Experts point out that such sales slowdown is typical for this time of the year. Thus, Dmitry Chichkanov, Senior Manager of the Thai Department of Skyway, commented on the situation as follows: ‘there is drop in demand in November and the first half oа December. Sales start stabilizing from December 19th’. Alexander Morkovnikov, agreed: ‘sales slow down usually starts after autumn holidays and continues for around two weeks. As a rule the situation normalizes by the middle of December’. Furthermore, according to Alexander Abramov, Director of Aniko-tour, the market is influenced not only by seasonal fluctuations but also by expectations of clients: ‘many tourists know about the low season and deliberately wait for prices to go down thus ‘provoking’ tour operators to reduce prices for tour packages’. This is confirmed by shortage of economy-class hotels in the peninsula. ‘We feel the shortage of 3-4* accommodation in Pattaya’. Considering this tendency some tour operators tried to secure themselves. Thus, Dmitry Chichkanov, shared the experience of his company: ‘we, for example, sold tours for these days in advance at attractive prices. At the moment the maximum sales depth is a few days’. However, the majority of travel companies plan to compensate for the current situation by New Year bookings. Travel market experts interviewed by a BANKO correspondent point out that practically all tours to Thailand for the New Year period are sold and the January sales depth considerably exceeds the figures of last year.