Thailand tourism sees bright future as arrivals grow steadily

Wednesday 01 January 2014 12:23
The Department of Tourism (DOT), Ministry of Tourism and Sports, expects the new year to bring a steady increase in the number of foreign visitors to Thailand. In its latest report the DOT said the political unrest in Bangkok during December has had minimal effect on the number of arrivals, because in-bound tourists simply switched their point of entry from Suvarnabhumi Airport to other major international airports around the country.

The DOT’s Statistical Report for 2013 indicated that, despite earlier anxieties over the impact on tourism of the political protest that began in November, compounded by China’s amendment of its tourism-related regulations, neither arrival numbers nor target revenues were affected. On the contrary, Thailand welcomed 2.58 million tourists in 2013, an increase of 6.1% from 2012.

Acting Second Lieutenant Arnupap Gaesornsuwan, Director General of the Department of Tourism, urged every concerned party to keep tourists informed that ongoing demonstrations were limited to only certain areas of the capital and that Suvarnabhumi Airport was still open for business as usual. However, to avoid any anxiety, in-bound visitors could easily choose to enter country through any of the other international airports, such as Phuket, Chiang Mai, Hat Yai and several others.

The Director General said the tourism situation for 2013 had surpassed expectations for the first nine months of this year, with arrivals and tourism revenue seeing as much as a 23% increase, with projected arrivals estimated at 26.72 million and generating 1.167 trillion baht in tourism revenues. Therefore, the demonstrations in Bangkok and the change in Beijing’s regulations regarding Chinese tourists to Thailand, had minimal effect on Thailand’s tourism, thanks to the approaching integration of ASEAN as an economic community (AEC), which has sparked tourism.

“In 2014, we expect to see 30.27 million tourists visiting Thailand, an increase of 13.29%, generating 1.344 trillion baht in tourism revenues,” the Director General disclosed.

As for domestic tourism, the report projected the number of Thai travellers at 127.52 million person-trips, generating 0.634 trillion baht in domestic tourism revenues by the end of this year. The report also estimated that in 2014, there will be 133.89 person-trips, generating 0.669 trillion baht of tourism revenue.