SINGAPORE
One of the world’s most expensive countries with man-made tourism products, Singapore is a short haul destination with an average length tourist visit of 3.5 days. The convention city, once a shopping hub, is taken over by Thailand and Malaysia. Man made theme parks such as Sentosa and the Night Safari are among the main tourist attractions and recorded 16.9M visitors (January to November 2018) – an increase of 6.6% from the same period in 2017. About 20 exhibitors participated under the Singapore pavilion, including Millennium Hotels at the ATF 2019. www.stb.gov.sg
THAILAND
The world-class destination features some of the best beaches, lifestyle resorts, food culture and wellness tourism in the region. From the multi storied shopping malls of Bangkok, river boat safari, the cool hills of the North and the sublime beaches along the southern part, Thailand lead other member ASEAN countries with highest long haul tourist arrival, future tourism growth and expansion in the niche MICE market as well as stimulate the economy of rural areas by promoting new and emerging tourism destinations.
As ASEAN Chair in 2019, Thailand put up a large pavilion with 60 exhibiting companies at the ATF, including Paradise Beach Resort Samui, Royal Sands Koh Rong, Bangkok Airways, Vijitt Resort Phuket.
Koh Samui appeal has affected due to over tourism that can be solved through a shut down on construction of new large resorts and hotels for another 2-3 years. However, there are pockets of Samui that has old charm appeal like the Villa Beige Taling Ngam (http://www.villabeige.com/en/), Amari Samui North Chaweng (www.amari.com/koh-samui/), and Paradise Beach Resort Maenam Beach (www.samuiparadisebeach.com).
Thailand recorded visitor arrivals 22.6M (Jan-Jul 2018), up 11% over the same period in 2017 with a total ETA (2018) to reach over 40M.
e-Travelers Club Travel Update 