Major tourism markets in the Asia Pacific, including Thailand, are getting back on track as international visitors start to plan their trips again, according to data from Book away Group, a ground transportation aggregator.
Thailand announced the lifting of restrictions on international visitors from its key source markets in October.
Book away Group noted a triple-digit (up 500 percent) month-on-month increase in the volume of tickets sold by operators in Thailand between October and December, including domestic travelers.
However, the global emergence of the Omicron variant saw ticket sales drop by 20 percent between December and January before climbing again, by single digits, in February.
As concerns about Omicron declined, bookings returned, with March volumes being 36 percent ahead of December.
The latest data available, up to April 25th, shows that this month is already the strongest so far in terms of tickets sold.
The, albeit temporary, impact of Omicron on Thailand’s recovery is reflected in the site traffic analysis of 12Go, Book away Group’s main consumer-facing brand for the APAC region.
Site visitor numbers from the UK, France, and Germany climbed by more than 100 percent between October and December with the US recording a 54 percent hike.
The US and France continued to grow at low double-digit levels in January and February, although the UK and Germany saw declines of a similar scale.
Growth was restored in all markets in March, and data for April so far continues the upward trend.
In the six months from October to March, site visitors from all four markets have grown significantly, led by Germany (up by 900 percent), France (500 percent up), the UK (300 percent up), and the US (64 percent up).
Noam Toister, chief executive of Book away Group, said: “Our data shows that most markets saw a drop at the start of the year, however, this was a temporary blip, and trendlines around the globe are now on the up.
“Our specific data from Thailand shows that we are selling more tickets every month, and the massive increases in site traffic from major source markets bodes well for the summer and beyond.”