Joint push to spur Middle Eastern marketPeople emerge from the arrival hall at Suvarnabhumi airport after disembarking from a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight SV846 from Jeddah via Riyadh on Feb 27, 2022. Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, the tourism and sports minister, said the roadshow to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia on May 15-16 was the first tourism event since the two countries restored diplomatic relations. He said Thai tourism has to start promoting the Saudi market to spur travel demand, which should peak during July and August. "The ministry discussed with the airline adding more quota to Thai Muslims for the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia and open new routes such as Saudi Arabia-Phuket," Mr Phiphat said. Prior to the pandemic, the Middle East market provided 533,237 travellers to Thailand, generating 41.3 billion baht.

Source: Bangkok Post May 18, 2022 04:32 UTC