Thailand’s tourism sector is witnessing a rebound with the latest data suggesting that the country has witnessed more than 3 million tourists arriving up until July 23rd with the government putting up its hopes of being able to attract up to 10 million tourists for the remainder of the year.
Thailand, which has seen its tourism market shatter with the lockdowns and the various travel restrictions that were put in place after the outbreak of the Covid-19 in 2020 and 2021, relies heavily on tourism to keep its economy going and tourism accounts for nearly 15% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
The data released by the Thai government showed that the highest number of tourists arriving were from the United States of America with 366,568 tourists, followed by India with 313,053 tourists, and 3rd was Singapore with 171,034 tourists.
The rise in tourist numbers has prompted the 2014 coup leader and incumbent Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha, to announce in the parliament on Saturday that he expects a total of 10 million tourists to arrive in Thailand during the course of this year.
The statement by Prayut was also echoed by Yuthasak Supasorn, Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), who has said that TAT aims to have 7-10 million foreign tourists traveling to Thailand.
The move to have more tourists coming in stems from the fact that the country has managed to life all the restrictions for travelers into the country and the cancellation of the Thailand Pass from July 1st, 2022, has helped spur influx of tourists.
The number of tourists visiting Thailand per day in July continued to rise beyond the expectation of 30,000 and went as high as 47,000 whereas in June 2022 there were approximately 21,000-25,000 foreign tourists per day. This compares to a mere 428,000 tourists seen in entire 2021.
The surge in tourism is likely to help the hotel and restaurant sector that has been reeling from the impact of the lockdowns.
Popular Destinations
In response to the recovery of the tourism sector in the second half of 2022, Agoda.com, the global digital travel platform, has ranked the most popular destinations worldwide for 2022 following the improvement of the COVID-19 situation and the easing the control measures which stimulate the tourism in various countries across the world.
The results of the rankings showed that Bangkok and Pattaya, Thailand, are among the 10 most popular destinations for tourists worldwide in the summer of 2022, with Bangkok being number 1 and Pattaya number 8 in the world.
Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana, the spokesman for the Prime Minister’s Office, said the Prime Minister, Prayut Chan-o-cha, was delighted that Agoda has ranked Bangkok as the number one destination for the world’s most popular summer destinations in 2022.
“The Prime Minister commended all relevant agencies for integrating cooperation in the efficient development of the Thai tourism industry both supporting the policies, implementing the guidelines set by the government and building confidence in foreign tourists.”, he revealed.
Thanakorn concluded that as a result of the cooperation, tourism in Thailand has become popular among foreign tourists once again and has urged all parties involved to continue to create awareness among tourists in order to elevate Thailand’s tourism industry towards sustainable growth in line with the competitive environment, the changing economic, and the challenges of the modern world. – Thai Enquirer
