Thai outbound tourism to Austria: trends and issues

Compared to forms of international inbound tourism or the development and marketing of various forms of travel inside the country, Thai outbound tourism constitutes a rather neglected phenomenon. Though a promising start was King Chulalongkorn’s iconic trip to Europe in the late 19th century, Thai outbound travel remained restricted to a small elite of royal and other wealthy travelers until the 1980s when economic prosperity and rising household incomes fueled increasing demand for leisure and business travel. Based on a literature review and data from a survey with Thai tourists in Austria, this research outlines dimensions of contemporary Thai tourists in Europe in relation to their travel trends, profiles and destination image perception