Bangkok, 11 November, 2019 – Thailand recently welcomed Spring Airlines’ new Xi’an-Bangkok flight, making it the first and only airline that operates directly on the route. The airline’s inaugural flight 9C6293 touched down at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport on 1 November, 2019.
Mr. Santi Sawangcharoen, Director of TAT’s East Asia Market Division said, ‘The new Xi’an-Bangkok flight by Spring Airlines is ideal given that Xi’an is a city with high economic growth and is the third largest science and technology hub in China, after Beijing and Shanghai. This will allow the chance for a new group of Chinese tourists to visit Thailand.”
Spring Airlines is operating one flight per week on the Xi’an-Bangkok route using a 180-seat Airbus A320. This added to its current 125 flights per week, with 90,000 seats, from 19 key and secondary cities in China to five Thai cities including Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Krabi, and Ko Samui. It started scheduled flights to Bangkok in 2012.
In September 2019, the airline’s parent company, Spring International Group signed a Letter of Intent with TAT to form a long-term strategic partnership to develop and promote quality tourism experiences in the kingdom for visitors from China.
Mr. Santi added, “We’re delighted to welcome the first group of tourists on Spring Airline’s inaugural Xi’an-Bangkok flight, and look forward to welcome new and repeat visitors every week from now on. We hope they will enjoy exploring Thailand and discover many amazing Thai experiences.
“In addition, we hope that Chinese tourists will enjoy a privilege from the visa-on-arrival fee waiver valid from now until 30 April, 2020. The stimulus visa scheme exempts citizens of 20 nations, including China, from the 2,000 Baht visa-on-arrival fee for single-entry leisure travel in Thailand for not more than 15 days.”
From January to September 2019, Thailand welcomed 8.5 million Chinese tourists, generating an estimated 400 billion Baht in revenue for the Thai economy, up respectively 1.7% and 4.1% over the same period in 2018.
TAT expects the number of Chinese tourists to reach 11 million (up 4%) for 2019.
