Thailand could become a regional aviation hub if the government can come up with a clear strategy and action plan, plus upgrades in services of such key players as Thai Airways International and Airports of Thailand (AOT), as well as a reboot of Thai hospitality.

At a roundtable titled “Thailand: An Opportunity to Be a Global Aviation Hub” organised last week by Krungthep Turakij newspaper, key speakers from the tourism and aviation industries strongly agreed that Thailand had the potential to become such a hub if management and service issues could be improved. This would help improve the competitiveness of the country’s tourism sector.

Nitinai Sirismatthakarn, AOT senior executive vice president for business development and marketing, said about 70 per cent of travellers at Singapore’s Changi Airport stopped over and visited the city, while only 30 per cent were in transit. At Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, 30 per cent of passengers stayed on in the Kingdom and 70 per cent transited to other countries.

Read more: The Nation

By The Nation