Mr Apichart Sankary
Association of Thai Travel Agents president
Association of Thai Travel Agents president, Mr Apichart Sankary, said a large number of tourists still wanted to visit
Thailand judging from fully booked air seats on longhaul routes from Europe and Scandinavia, especially from October 2007 to April 2008.
He added hotels' average room rates nationwide had gone up by five to 10 per cent.
While the number of East Asian arrivals has dropped, 4.03 per cent in the first eight months of this year, the number of European arrivals looks promising for Thailand in 2008.
Go Vacation Thailand managing director, Mr Christoph Mueller, said "This you can see from the very positive sales responses for the coming winter, from October 2007 to April 2008. There are lots of new hotel openings and developments in Thailand, and all are well accepted by the (European) markets."
He said for the company, Khao Lak stood out as the strongest destination with more than 45,000 room nights booked from November 2007 to April 2008. "Of course, bookings are still coming on a daily basis and we expect the destination to have significant growth of several hundred per cent over the same period last year."

Etihad Airways, meanwhile, has experienced another year of phenomenal growth, evidenced by unprecedented load factors on its double daily flights to Bangkok.
The airline’s manager for Thailand and Mekong region, Mr Florian Preuss, said onward travel from the Thai capital to destinations in the north and south had also increased significantly.
“The growing number of tourists visiting Thailand on Etihad Airways is an assurance that the country’s attractiveness and competitiveness as a tourist destination remains the paramount reason for tourists to visit."
Scandinavian Airlines general manager for South-east Asia, Mr Hakan Olsson, said the airline enjoyed a record 90 per cent load factor, especially during winter.
Amari Hotels and Resorts vice-president sales and marketing, Mr Duncan Webb, said moving forward, the forecast for inbound arrivals "must and will be positive".
"Since late-2006, there have been negative events that have an impact on inbound tourism, but the forecast for 2008 is looking positive even if we still have to wait and see until the general election takes place."
Sirima Eamtako and A Techaprasertwitaya