The government says the number of international visitors to Thailand this year stands at over 23 million. Total tourism revenue is over 980 billion baht and arrivals from Malaysia topped the list.
Tourism minister Sudawan Wangsuphakijkosol says Thailand has welcomed a total of 23,241,338 foreign arrivals between January 1 and November 12. Between them, they have generated 981.69 billion baht in tourism revenue.
She adds that between November 6 and 12, there were 611,121 foreign arrivals to Thailand, or an average of 87,303 a day. Sudawan says this is a 9.61% increase on the week before, which had an average of 53,567 a day.
The increase is being attributed to the Diwali holiday period in Malaysia and Singapore, with the number of Malaysian visitors increasing to 49,919 – a 28.65% increase on the previous week.
With the number of international flights increasing for the high season and the weather turning colder in Europe and other target markets, Sudawan is confident the number of foreign arrivals will increase further next week.
She says visa-free entry for visitors from China, India, and Kazakhstan, in addition to the longer stays afforded to Russians, will also help.
Nation Thailand reports that the breakdown of the top 5 countries whose nationals are visiting Thailand is as follows:
- Malaysia: 3,824,445
- China: 2,902,462
- South Korea: 1,375,958
- India: 1,354,712
- Russia: 1,170,203
That’s a different profile from the visitors coming to Phuket. This is the numbers from Phuket Immigration in October this year with Russians a long way in the lead of the most frequent foreign arrivals…
SOURCE: Nation Thailand
