Thailand's Feb tourist arrivals up 29.6% year-on-year: ministry

[BANGKOK] The number of tourists arriving in Thailand rose for the fifth straight month in February, up 29.6 per cent from a year earlier, continuing to recover after an army coup last May ended months of political unrest.

Foreign tourist numbers were 2.69 million in February and arrivals are exacted to be robust for the rest of the year, Krisada Chinavicharana, director general of the Finance Ministry's Fiscal Policy Office, told a briefing on Monday.

In the first 13 days of March, the number of foreign tourists jumped 27.6 per cent from a year earlier to about 1.1 million, he added.

In January, tourist arrivals rose 16.3 per cent from a year earlier to 2.65 million, according to the Department of Tourism.

REUTERS