Bangkok leads Asia Pacific in tourist spending | Bangkok Post: learning

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Bangkok beat out Singapore and Hong Kong in visitors and all Asia-Pacific countries in money spent by tourists in the country.

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Bangkok leads Asia Pacific tourist spending by Karnjana Karnjanatawe

Bangkok will lead other Asia Pacific countries in terms of international tourist arrivals and spending. The city will also be in the 3rd global position regarding the highest numbers of visitors in 2011, according to recent research by MasterCard.

Bangkok will welcome 11.5 million foreign visitors who will spend US$14.4 billion (432 billion baht) in 2011.

The MasterCard Index of Global Destination Cities found that there will be 20.1 million visitors to visit London followed by 18.1 million to Paris and 11.5 million to Bangkok - slightly higher than Singapore in 4th place with 11.4 million visitors and Hong Kong in 5th position with 10.9 million international arrivals.

For the top five destination cities in the Asia Pacific based on visitor expenditure, Bangkok comes in top position again with an estimated total visitor expenditure of US$14.4 billion in 2011, followed by Sydney (US$13.8 billion), Singapore (US$10.8 billion), Hong Kong (US$10.4 billion) and Seoul (US$10.2 billion).

The research also found that the top five visitors to Bangkok are from Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul and London. However, spending by visitors from Hong Kong, estimated at US$1.5 billion, is the largest.

The top five cities that have the largest tourist spending are London (US$25.6 billion), New York (US$20.3 billion), Paris (US$14.6 billion), Bangkok (US$14.4 billion) and Frankfurt (US$14 billion).

To further promote Bangkok, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has joined hands with MasterCard and 180 service providers in Bangkok to launch the "Stopover Bangkok" campaign.

It is targeting 1.5 million transit passengers at Suvarnabhumi International Airport to spend a night or two here.

The campaign offers various privileges such as up to 50% discounts, buy-one-get-one-free, or up to 9,000 baht price reductions in various service categories such as local tours, dining, golf, shopping, Thai cooking classes and transportation. In addition, MasterCard holders will have special top-up privileges and discounts from 5% to 20%.

To join the campaign, one needs to register at StopOverBangkok website (www.stopoverbangkok.com). The campaign will run until the end of October.

The TAT has also joined hands with goods and services providers in the tourism industry to launch the "Amazing Thailand Grand Sales" nationwide campaign.

The two-month campaign, which ends on August 15, will offer 10-80% discounts on goods from participating department stores, shopping malls, King Power Duty Free, jewellery shops, golf courses, spas, hospitals, airlines, online travel agencies and local providers of Otop products.

The campaign extends beyond Bangkok, including Chiang Mai, Pattaya, Hua Hin, Phuket, Hat Yai and Koh Samui.

Visit www.tourismthailand.org/thailandgrandsale for more details.

(Source: Bangkok Post, TRAVELTITBITS, Bangkok leads Asia Pacific tourist spending, 4/07/2011, Karnjana Karnjanatawe, link) 

MasterCard Index of Global Destination Cities - an index that "describes and analyzes the global network of 132 destination cities and how they are connected through cross-border air travel and associated expenditures" (See Youtube intro and free report and presentation slides)

MasterCard - a major worldwide credit card company (See Wikipedia)

Asia Pacific countries - a grouping of countries that typically includes much of Asia as well as Australia and New Zealand, "The term may also include Russia (on the North Pacific) and countries in North and South America which are on the coast of the Eastern Pacific Ocean; the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, for example, includes Canada, Chile, Russia, Mexico, Peru, and the United States...Even though imprecise, the term has been popular since the late 1980s in commerce, finance and politics because, though the economies within the region are heterogeneous, they are mostly emerging markets experiencing rapid growth" (See Wikipedia)

in terms of - as measured by

international - between countries ระหว่างประเทศ 
international tourist arrivals - foreign tourists arriving in the country
global - all over the world, including the whole world, throughout the world ทั่วโลก  เกี่ยวกับโลก  ทั้งโลก  

destination - the place where a passenger or goods are going, the place where someone or something is going จุดหมายปลายทาง
visitor expenditure - money spent by tourists in the country

promote - to move someone to a job at a higher level เลื่อนตำแหน่ง
launch - to start selling a new product or service to the public เริ่มวางขาย  เริ่มต้น เริ่มโครงการ เริ่มทำ

goods and services providers - companies that sell services and goods that tourists typically buy

stopover - a stop during a journey, a stop while travelling (usually when flying between two places)

campaign - a planned group of especially political, business or military activities which are intended to achieve a particular aim การรณรงค์
marketing campaign - a series of activities to sell a companies products (advertising, promotional events, etc)

targeting - directing advertising, criticism or a product at someone เล็งไปที่

transit - the act of moving from one place to another การเดินทางผ่าน
transit passengers - people travelling by plane who have to stay in an airport for a short period of time before "catching a connecting flight" to their final destination (usually stay in the country only a few hours)

privilege - a special benefit available only to a special person or group
local tours - 1. tours in this country (Thailand); 2. tours in the local area (near the airport for transit passengers)

register - have name put on an official list (and receive permission to do something like vote or marry) ลงทะเบียน ขึ้นทะเบียน (ขอใบอนุญาต)

joined hands with - joined together (to work together on a project)
nationwide - including the whole country ทั่วประเทศ ทั่วทั้งประเทศ

participating department stores - department stores that are joining in the program

spas - a resort or beauty salon for relaxing personal care treatments

online travel agencies - companies that sell travel services only over the internet by credit card payment (airplane tickets, tours, hotel accomodation, etc) no office where people walk in and do business

Otop - One Tambon One Product, a government that promotes locally made products from all over Thailand of each tambon (subdistrict), the program draws its inspiration from Japan's successful One Village One Product (OVOP) program (See Wikipedia)

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