Thailand is expected to be one of the major beneficiaries of flights from Japan’s Mt Fuji Shizuoka International Airport when it opens in March 2009.
On 15 January 2007, Tourism Authority of Thailand Deputy Governor of International Marketing, Mrs Juthaporn Rerngron-asa, welcomed Mr Isao Kuriara, the Director of Finance of Shizuoka Prefecture along with members of his team upon their visit to Thailand as part of the pre-opening marketing efforts for the upcoming airport. The party also met with officials of Bangkok’s new Suvarnabhumi Airport and the Thai aviation department.
Charter flights are being planned to link Shizuoka and Bangkok as well as other Asia-Pacific cities such as Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Guam and Honolulu, all of which are popular destinations for outbound Japanese travellers.
With more than one million arrivals a year, Japan is the second largest source of visitors to Thailand after Malaysia. At the same time, Japan is stepping up efforts to promote inbound visitors.
Located on the Pacific side of the Japanese archipelago, roughly in the centre of the country, Shizuoka Prefecture is approximately 230 kms from Tokyo and about 180 kms from Nagoya, Japan’s two other very important cities. Its catchment area is home to hundreds of businesses, mainly specialising in the automobile industry which have regional offices throughout the Asia-Pacific. The prefecture is also rich in tourist resources including the famous Mount Fuji, the Izu Peninsula, the Southern Alps, the Hamana Lake, hot springs and orchards. The airport itself will open in the foothills of the vast tea-growing region of the Makinohara Heights.
Hence, Shizuoka Prefecture sees itself as being well-placed to attract both inbound and outbound traffic, for business and leisure.
Japanese visitor arrivals to Thailand have been growing strongly over the years, thanks to good airline connections, visa-free travel privileges and strong bilateral business and trade links.
There are currently 141 weekly flights from 5 Japanese airports to Thailand, including Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, *****uoka and Hiroshima.
Mr Kuriara’s visit was particularly important as Thailand and Japan will mark the 120th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic and commercial relations on 26 September 2007. The bilateral agreement on friendship and trade was signed between Siam, as Thailand was then known, and Japan in 1887.
In December 2005, the two countries signed an agreement to promote 2007 as the Year of Tourism and commemorate 120 years of Thai-Japanese relations.
To mark the occasion, they agreed to organised a number of joint public-private sector events such as technical seminars, exhibitions on culture, technology and investment, sports events, musical performances, tourism promotion activities and international film festivals.
Further information about Shizuoka airport is available at http://www.pref.shizuoka.jp/kuukou/contents/foreign/english/en_flights…
Source : Tourism Authority of Thailand
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