Phuket, Thailand-
Tourism leaders in Phuket have been speaking to the Thai government and airline industry executives to attempt to find solutions for what they say are expensive domestic flights.
According to Mr. Poomkit Raktae Ngam, Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Phuket Tourism Business Association, tourism leaders are fairly pleased with a rebound in international tourism and foreign tourists, especially from Russia, India, Malaysia, Australia, and other nearby counties.
The Phuket Express wrote earlier today about predictions on rapidly increasing Russian tourism but Poomkit’s main concern is domestic tourism, not international.
According to Poomkit, hotels near the beaches have had very strong occupancy, while hotels further away have been stable but have room to improve. One obstacle is that domestic flights in Thailand remain expensive from tourism business leaders perspectives and that if agreements were made for promotions or specials to lower the price more domestic tourists would visit.
Poomkit and other tourism entrepreneurs have been meeting with relevant airline and Thai leaders to attempt to find solutions to the issue, although Poomkit concedes that he understands the difficulties airlines are having due to high fuel prices and some markets not yet fully open to flights or showing slower recovery, like China and America.
Poomkit says relevant decision makers hope to have some progress made before the Christmas season is fully underway in just a few weeks.
