Bangkok, 18 December, 2017 – The promotion of intra-ASEAN tourism will take another step forward with the Thai Vietjet Air launch of four weekly flights between Bangkok and Dalat, the Vietnamese ‘City of Flowers’, on 18 December, 2017.
The low-cost airline, a joint-venture between Thai and Vietnamese business groups, will operate an Airbus A320 on the route every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, with a flight time of one hour 45 minutes.
Located in the mountainous Central Highlights of Vietnam, the city of Dalat has a population of 200,000, a strong middle class and a stable economy based on agriculture and tourism. The city is known to the Vietnamese as Little Paris, the City of Love, the City of Poetry, the Green City and other names reflecting its rich colonial and cultural heritage.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has welcomed the flights as contributing to the growing transportation linkages within the ASEAN region, which will eventually boost two-way travel between Thailand and Vietnam.
TAT Governor Mr. Yuthasak Supasorn said, “This new flight will help us attract visitors from Dalat and the surrounding areas. Thailand is known as one of the most favourite destinations for the Vietnamese people. This flight will make it more convenient for people of the entire catchment area around Dalat to reach Bangkok directly without changing flights en route.
“The flight is perfectly timed just right before the delightful New Year Countdown in Bangkok. In future, we expect Vietnamese visitors will enjoy coming here even more, as we develop a whole range of products related to fashion, Thai cuisine, health and spa, meetings and conventions and many more industry sectors.”
According to TAT’s market research reports, the Vietnamese middle class has grown with good spending power. They like to travel abroad during school holidays and long weekends. Vietnamese visitors to Thailand enjoy shopping, eating, family attractions, year-round good weather and quality products.
The top five destinations for Vietnamese visitors are Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket, Kanchanaburi and Udon Thani. New destinations gaining popularity are Northeast Thailand, Samui Island and Phuket.
In January-October 2017, Vietnamese visitors to Thailand totalled 804,851, up by 12.29% over the same period of 2016, generating an estimated 25.57 billion Baht in tourism income.
Vietnam is a very important partner country for Thailand in the context of cultural, social, political and economic relations, both bilaterally as well as under the aegis of regional sub-groupings like the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
The new route will raise to four the total number of Vietnamese cities being served by Thai VietJet from Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket. The airline currently flies from these cities to Hanoi, Hai Phong and Ho Chi Minh City.
