News Forum - First direct flight from Saudi Arabia to land in Thailand after mending diplomatic relations

[Thaiger]

The first direct flight from Saudi Arabia to Thailand will land at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, a significant step after bilateral ties between the two countries were patched up. Saudi Arabian Airlines flight SV846 from Riyadh will arrive at Suvarnabhumi Airport at 6:05pm today. The airline will operate three flights per week between Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Bangkok, with more flights to follow once the Covid-19 outbreak has ended. The restoration of commercial air services with Saudi Aradia follows PM Prayut Chan-o-official cha’s visit to the Middle Eastern country in late January where he fostered ties. Diplomatic relations between the two […]

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[TheDirtyDurian]

Humdililah!

[Cathat]

hopefully the service will soon be increased to daily.the most positive bit of news for the thai tourism industry in a very long time.the country could extremely well out of this if handled correctly,imshalla.

[Soidog]

I wonder how Saudis feel about the fact their fellow Sunni Muslim brothers were handed back to China by the Thais and most likely ended up imprisoned or worse. Or how they feel about thier Sunni Muslim brothers in the South of Thailand fighting to break away?  It may generate a couple of hundred thousand tourists. I don’t see the main tourist spots with their nightlife and bars attracting many Saudis. Probably more Thais go to Mecca each year than Saudis will come to Thailand? 

[TheDirtyDurian]

3 hours ago, Soidog said:

I wonder how Saudis feel about the fact their fellow Sunni Muslim brothers were handed back to China by the Thais and most likely ended up imprisoned or worse. Or how they feel about thier Sunni Muslim brothers in the South of Thailand fighting to break away?  It may generate a couple of hundred thousand tourists. I don’t see the main tourist spots with their nightlife and bars attracting many Saudis. Probably more Thais go to Mecca each year than Saudis will come to Thailand? 

Think you're overestimating how much your average Saudi cares about Muslims in China, or the Muslims in the South. Most wouldn't know anything about the problems in the South. 

The main tourist spots with the bars and nightlife will be exactly what many will be going for. 

A lot of stuff for families too, and the women will love the shopping. 

It will take a while for things to take off because of COVID etc, but I think down the line it will be successful. 

Not that many Thais go to Mecca each year relatively speaking. You have to get a special visa through an approved agency, and numbers are strictly limited per country. It is also extremely expensive for the majority of Thais because you have to pay for the complete package which will include all travel, accommodation, food etc. And it ain't cheap!

I don't know how many visitors there are from the UAE, but Saudi has over 3 times the population so I'd expect in time numbers to reflect that, and more because of the novelty. 

A lot of my Saudi colleagues in the office have been talking about it. So it's well on the radar. 

[Cathat]

Before the incident in the 80's you had plenty of single guys expat and local alike heading straight for pattaya but you also had many families groups arriving from saudi.

the country had a strong following for long stay family holidays at a reasonable price.

if they can tap into the family market again and also attract the young saudi proffesionals the tourism industry could do very well out of it.

it's a golden opportunity.