Japan one of Thailand’s strongest travel markets for the events business has grown 10% due to an increase of confidence in Thailand and a reluctance to book events in China due to the on-going dispute over Sensaku or the Diaoyu Islands. Association of Thai Travel Agents vice president, Anake Srishevachart, said the number of Japanese people travelling to Thailand for MICE activities is currently increasing by 10%. “The increase is due to rising confidence in the overall situation in Thailand.” He added that the ongoing dispute between China and Japan over an island in the East China Sea is shifting business to Thailand. “The issue has prompted many business tourism events to shift to Thailand instead of Hong Kong, which was the most popular destinations for incentives or events related tourism.” “We think the visitor count from Japan will reach 1.3 million for the entire year, surpassing the set target of 1.2 million.” Last year, 1,127,893 Japanese travelled to Thailand, according to Ministry of Tourism and Sports data. Besides rising Japanese arrivals, more tourists from China and South Korea are also expected to visit Thailand during the last quarter of this year. From ttrweekly