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The Tourism Authority of Thailand on Monday will begin a four-day roadshow to Johannesburg and Cape Town, hoping to draw 50,000 South African tourists this year, up from 47,228 last year. Tourist arrivals from South Africa fluctuated from 1998 to 2003, growing by an average of only 2% a year, said Satit Nillwongse, the TAT's executive director for Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

The number of visitors rose 18% in 2004 to 40,732 before falling to 35,748 in 2005 after the December 2004 tsunami.

According to Mr Satit, South Africa holds great potential both for trade and tourism given its sound economy. South Africa has 44.8 million people, 20% of whom live in Johannesburg or Cape Town and have high purchasing power.

He said the roadshow could help increase visitors from South Africa to 89,000 over within three years. Visitors from South Africa now account for almost a half of all visitors from Africa. In 2006, tourists from Africa totalled 110,511, up from 85,736 in 2005. For the first five months of this year, visitors from South Africa via Suvarnabhumi airport reached 14,236, up from 11,964 last year. Visitors from Africa rose to 39,253 from 31,915 in the same period.

According to Mr Satit, the number of South African tourists jumped significantly after Thai Airways launched direct flights three days a week to Johannesburg in October last year. The two countries also have an agreement to allow visitors to stay for 30 days without a visa.

He said the TAT was highly confident that the roadshow would help draw more interest from South African visitors to choose Thailand as a preferred destination, given its rich diversity of tourism spots and reasonable prices. The agency also expects the roadshow to help South African operators understand Thailand's political and economic situation so they can deliver ''the right message'' to their clients, he said.

This article was first published in The Bangkok Post 24th June 2007