Thailand receives over 9m foreign tourist arrivals
THAILAND recorded about 9.4 million foreign tourist arrivals from January to November, and should welcome at least 10 million visitors for the full year, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) said on Friday (Dec 2).
TAT governor Yuthasak Supasorn told Reuters that Malaysia has been Thailand’s biggest source market this year, with 1.5 million arrivals.
“But we are seeing a shift in the number of long-distance tourists like more Russians coming to Thailand... as they escape the cold weather,” he said.
Yuthasak noted that the number of tourists from Russia moved up from October, when direct flights became available to Bangkok and the resort island of Phuket. Still, the country remained outside the top five source markets, he noted.
Russia was among the top five before the pandemic, with nearly two million visitors entering the kingdom each year.
A revival of tourism is a key driver of growth in Thailand, South-east Asia’s second-largest economy. It received just 428,000 foreign visitors last year; in 2019, before Covid struck, the figure was nearly 40 million. The country now plays host to about 50,000 to 60,000 foreign tourists a day during the high season.
The Bank of Thailand predicted there would be 10.5 million foreign tourist arrivals this year, and 22 million in 2023. REUTERS
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