Prices of outbound package tours have hit bottom, making it difficult for tour agents to make them any cheaper without affecting the quality of the packages and margins, says the Thai Travel Agents Association (TTAA).
The government's extended holiday from May 5-9 will benefit outbound tourism, with demand further boosted by attractive tour packages, it said.
Package tours to Europe are priced as low as 35,000-39,000 baht, down from 55,000 baht while those to Asian countries are as low as 9,900 baht for some destinations.
Krichanat Meesamran, the TTAA's vice-president, said competition was fierce in the outbound tour business. Attractive pricing has become the key to designing package tours because Thais are very price conscious.
Thais prefer cheap packages and will buy optional tours when they reach the destinations. The cost of travelling abroad in many destinations is lower than domestic travel, so outbound tourism is still seeing growth even though the economy is in a downturn.
As of April 25, outbound tourism stood at 1.74 million trips.
The number of outbound trips remains at the same level year-on-year but the association is satisfied with the results considering the current economic slowdown, Mr Krichanat said.
The TTAA estimates the outbound travel market will grow 7% to 7.2 million trips this year, up from 6.8 million last year.
Sun Smile Holidays & Travel, a leading wholesale operator, said the company sold 3,000 packages to Europe and expected to sell around 9,000 packages by the end of this year, up from 5,000 in 2015.
Mr Krichanat, who is also managing director of Sun Smile, said sales of package tours to Europe would be the key to boosting profit because they generate a higher margin.
"There are only four to five players selling European routes. Prices will not decline any further, otherwise the quality of the tour guide service will be compromised," he said.