Coup Won't Prevent Kiwis Travelling To Thailand

Coup Won't Prevent Kiwis Travelling To Thailand

House of Travel retail director Brent Thomas is confident that the recent military coup in Thailand will not scare travellers off.

"The coup appears to be relatively calm and non-threatening at this stage, with no reported violence. Kiwis are resilient travellers who are aware of the risks and exercise common sense – we have had enquiries but not cancellations."

House of Travel begun running reports to identify and contact all customers currently in Bangkok and those due to arrive in the next two weeks, to ensure travellers are at ease and to deal with any concerns. The majority of customers due to travel have not changed or cancelled plans and remain largely unconcerned. Many who are booked to travel in October and later are adopting a wait-and-see approach.

"This is a very popular time of year for Kiwis to visit Thailand as they escape the large crowds in December and January, when there are many visitors from the United Kingdom and Europe. We have approximately 1300 passengers who are already in Thailand, with a further 588 due to travel to Thailand in the next 14 days - all of these people will be contacted by their House of Travel outlet. These will be prioritised by departure date. With the school holidays less than a week away there are a number of families travelling to Asia, particularly Thailand. The variety it offers and great value have made it a very popular family destination in recent years. "

Thomas said customers should contact their travel agent if they have any concerns and to keep an eye on the news for updates of the situation. They can also check the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade travel advisory at www.safetravel.govt.nz. House of Travel will regularly be updating customers as the situation changes, both in person to those affected and on its website www.houseoftravel.co.nz. MORE

For local interest, here is the split of travellers by region:

Auckland 749 Bay of Plenty 116 Canterbury 280 Hamilton 174 Hawkes Bay 41 Manawatu 64 Nelson 100 New Plymouth 27 Otago 96 Southland 8 Taranaki 7 Wairarapa 5 Wellington 204 West Coast 16

The House of Travel Group has forecasted turnover in 2006 in excess of $700m, it has 90 retail outlets (with specialist corporate and leisure travel outlets) throughout New Zealand, its own award winning aggregated booking website www.houseoftravel.co.nz and two wholesale companies (both inbound and outbound). It employs in excess of 1,100 people and is privately owned (by New Zealander Chris Paulsen) and operated since it was established in 1987.

ENDS

© Scoop Media