Thailand tops the poll for countries offering travellers the ‘host’ factor

“The perfect destination for travellers seeking to experience a warm welcome and immerse themselves in the local culture.”

A recent poll by booking.com across 29 countries has found Thai people to be among the top nationalities who consider their country to be more hospitable than others.

Thailand, along with Indonesia, Mexico, Taiwan and India, are the top five countries where locals believe hospitality to be in their DNA, according to the research. Booking.com conducted the survey on 21,500 travellers from 29 countries.

Thailand stood out from the pack with Thai poll respondents confident their country had the ‘host’ factor being recorded at 85 percent.

Booking.com described Thailand as “the perfect destination for travellers seeking to experience a warm welcome and immerse themselves in the local culture”.

This follows on from an October-November 2018 survey in which the e-commerce hotel booking platform – one of the world’s largest – discovered that nearly 25% of global travellers planned to stay in different types of accommodation in 2019, and that Thailand was well placed to capitalise on this trend.

This online research was carried out among a sample of 53,492 respondents across 31 markets. The respondents were 18 years or older, had to have travelled at least once in the past 12 months, and be either the primary decision-maker or be involved in the decision-making of their travel.

Parichat Haehnen, booking.com’s Regional Manager for Thailand and Indochina says some travellers would like to ‘live like a local’.

“In 2019, travellers are looking for new experiences and unique accommodation like a Thai traditional house, boat or tree house. Meanwhile they’re looking to stay at alternative accommodation types; such as, villas, holiday homes and apartments.”

Ms. Parichat added that Thailand, with its charming uniqueness, could well cater to this preference. Property owners and managers are advised to include local or cultural elements in their offerings, and to reflect the Thai character of their properties on booking platforms.

SOURCE: TAT