Baby boomers will increasingly dominate the population of tourists going to
Thailand in the next decade. As experts meet for an Asian tourist conference,
the future of tourism looks bright but will undergo radical change. Evolutions
will be centred round the demands of retirees. More specialised types of tourism,
such as agri-tourism, eco-tourism and medical tours will also be on the rise.
Hoteliers, tour agents and tourism experts in Thailand are preparing for a baby
boomer boost in tourism. This is the conclusion of the Pacific Asia Travel
Association’s conference in Pattaya. As the generation born after the Second
World War reaches retirement age, it is expected that many of them will go
travelling. The proportion of boomers among tourists in Thailand is rising. Many
of them are American or Japanese.
As tourism in Asia is likely to boom, boomers expectation and trends will evolve.
For Ho Kwon Ping, CEO of Banyan Tree Group, travel technologies will accelerate
thanks to newer, cheaper aircraft and online media. Air travel will be
increasingly segmented with the rise of ultra-large people movers, pure
business-class airlines and even jet air taxis.
A new type of post-modern tourism is also likely to develop. According to Mr.
Ho, the tourist market will become segmented. Specific types of activities such
as eco-tourism, agri-tourism, and educational, cultural and medical tourism are
on the rise.
Tourism workers should prepare themselves to see the rise of large global
players and a growing number of small niche players. New technologies and the
changing world demographics dominate the perspective of tourism experts in
Thailand today.
(Thai News Service, 04/26/2006 : "Pattaya hosts big tourism conference")