The Nation, Thailand
Kingdom once again No-1 destination despite recent negative news reports
A recent survey of international travellers has identified Thailand as the world's top travel destination despite a widespread perception that the country suffers from "civil unrest".
The survey, conducted by Visa International Asia Pacific and the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), found that 52 per cent of respondents were considering Asia as their next travel destination, 9 per cent more than in the previous year's survey.
The survey, called "Asia Travel Intentions 2007", questioned more than 5,000 international travellers from 10 key travel markets around the world and examined their travel intentions, as well as the drivers of and barriers to their travel.
For the first time, India was included in the study, reinforcing the country's growing status as an inbound and outbound tourism source. Last year, India received 4.4 million visitors, while 8.3 million Indians travelled abroad.
About two-thirds of those surveyed had already visited Asia, and 47 per cent had been to Thailand before.
However, Thailand was again rated the No-1 destination on travellers' holiday lists, followed by Japan and China. At least half of the respondents in each market surveyed chose Thailand as their most likely holiday spot despite international media attention on Thailand's civil unrest in the weeks before the survey was conducted. They emphasised the country's reputation as a relaxing place where visitors could enjoy the local culture, natural beauty and friendly people.
Perceptions of Indonesia were influenced by safety concerns. More than half of the respondents said Indonesia was still severely affected by the December 26, 2004, tsunami, while 50 per cent saw the country as subject to terrorist attacks.
Fears of bird flu were focused mainly on China, with 58 per cent of respondents naming it the destination most affected, followed by Vietnam (37 per cent), Thailand (35 per cent) and Indonesia (34 per cent).
James Murray, Visa International's executive vice president for South and Southeast Asia, said the survey found that one out of every two people intending to travel abroad in the next two years was looking at Asia as the most likely destination, due to major events like the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
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