Bangkok (VNA) - ཧThai tourism operators fear the country will lose its position as the top Southeast Asian destination to Vietnam in a few years as the latter reported nearly 50% inbound market growth in March compared with the pre-pandemic period, while Thailand struggles with sluggish growth.

Thanet Supornsahasrungsi, President of the Association of Chon Buri Tourism Federation, said it may take only two to three years for Vietnam to gain more inbound tourists than Thailand. For this year, Vietnam set a goal for 23 million foreign arrivals, while Thailand's Finance Ministry slashed its international arrivals forecast from 38.5 million to 36.5 million, Thanet said as cited by Bangkok Post. Thailand recorded 2.7 million tourists in March, down 20% from the 2019 level, while Vietnam tallied more than 2 million tourists in the same month, up by 40% from 2019. Thanet said Vietnam offers lower living costs than Thailand. Family-oriented resorts and theme parks are also newer and cheaper than similar products in Thailand, while all-inclusive packages at Vietnam hotels are half the price of those in Thailand. He said Vietnam supports foreign travel agents, such as those from Russia, by subsidising air travel and offering lower landing fees at airports. This caused agents to shift their tours to cities like Nha Trang from Phuket this summer season. Thanet said foreign travel agents told him many airports in large Vietnamese cities are designed as international airports, enabling them to easily offer new overseas flight routes. The airports are located a 30 to 45-minute trip by car from tourist areas. By contrast, if tourists want to go to Hua Hin or Kanchanaburi, they must spend more than three hours travelling by vehicle from airports in Bangkok. Thanet said if the Thai government does not pursue a more active tourism approach and enhance safety measures, it will be difficult to reach the target of 36.5 million arrivals. Sanga Ruangwattanakul, President of the Khao San Road Business Association, said Bangkok may record fewer tourist arrivals than last year as the Chinese market shrinks and foreigners pivot to emerging destinations such as Vietnam. Last week, the Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA) submitted a proposal to the Tourism Authority of Thailand and the government requesting a subsidy worth 320 million THB (9.7 million USD) to increase Chinese arrivals. ATTA estimated the plan should generate at least 8.3 billion THB in revenue, based on average spending per trip of 55,869 THB from 150,000 Chinese tourists. ATTA said this scheme is risk-free for the government because it is a joint investment with the private sector, who would bear 80% of the cost. The government can mandate each flight brings at least 150 Chinese tourists to receive the 300,000-THB subsidy./.