THAILAND. In the latest instalment of an exclusive series for The Moodie Davitt Report, Air4casts and Skyscanner* (the global travel search engine with over 50 million unique visitors each month) examine the enduring appeal of Bangkok and Thailand for travellers.
Live, online travel search data by global consumers using the Skyscanner search engine showed that Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport was the most searched for destination airport for travel departure dates in April.
“Thailand has enduring appeal as a holiday destination for travellers from across the globe,” commented Air4Casts Director Jane Robinson. “Foreign tourists visiting the country increased by over +15% in April compared with the same month in 2015. And in good news for travel retail, Russian visitors are once again on the increase after a long period of decline.”
The Skyscanner April search rankings
Bangkok rose to first place in the April 2016 search league. Further down the search rankings, the popularity of the Thai resort airport of Phuket also increased sharply.
Barcelona was the second most searched for destination, both this April and last. London Heathrow Airport retained fourth place, according to the Skyscanner data, while New York JFK International Airport climbed up the rankings and nudged Dublin Airport out of the top five.
Russian tourists return to Thailand
Mainland Chinese visitors are the mainstay of Thai tourism and April was no exception.
However, the biggest increase during the month was in Russian visitors. While not yet back to 2014 levels, Russian tourists visiting Thailand rose by more than +46% compared with April 2015. It is also the third month in a row that their numbers have increased.
Moscow’s Domodedovo International Airport declared Phuket as one of its fastest growing routes in April, while Suvarnabhumi Airport also handled increased Russian traffic last month.
Laotian tourists hopping across the border surged by almost a third.
Strong growth at Thailand’s airports
April was a good month for Thailand’s airports, Air4casts and Skyscanner noted. Overall international passenger traffic last month increased +11%, which is comfortably ahead of the regional April average of +8%.
In the rolling 12 months to end April, Suvarnabhumi Airport handled more than 44 million international passengers, up +11.6% on the previous 12 month period.
Bangkok’s Don Mueang International Airport, however, continued to post the highest month-on-month growth rates in international traffic. Low cost carriers dominate the airport’s profile and flights from Tier 2 Chinese cities feature prominently. The airport handled more than 10.4 million international passengers in the year to end April.
*BACKGROUND TO THE AIR4CASTS-SKYCANNER REPORT
The Air4casts-Skyscanner data cooperation is an exciting new form of analysis for travel retail, available only through the MoodieDavitt Report.
Air4casts’ Nationalities 1000 product provides the airport and terminal traveller nationality and peak shopper times data.
Skyscanner’s Travel Insight product provides the consumer search data: a comprehensive and unique ‘big data’ set that can accurately predict future demand by telling you where more than 50 million monthly users have been searching and booking their travel, giving an unrivalled and invaluable overview of market demand, including the most popular destinations, prices, and flight times. Travel Insight is part of Skyscanner for Business – a suite of tools helping to power the travel Internet.
For more information on Air4Casts click here and here.
For more information on Skyscanner’s Travel Insight data please click here.
