Unexpected tourist increase
The Tourism Authority of Thailand has raised its year-end forecast for foreign arrivals to 14.1 million due to an unexpected surge in tourists last month.
Foreign visitors to Thailand rose by 24.91% year-on-year to 1.34 million in November, according to TAT figures. The percentage rise, however, is from a period last year when arrivals were affected by the blockading of Bangkok’s airports by yellow-shirted protesters.
This month’s arrivals should hit 1.4 to 1.5 million, said the agency, which has raised its forecast for the year to 14.1 million from a previous projection of less than 14 million, down from 14.6 million arrivals last year.
More than 1 million foreigners visited Thailand each month for nine of the past 11 months, said TAT chairman Wichai Srikwan. Only May and June arrivals failed to hit seven figures after political unrest in April cut arrivals to 923,918 and 954,772, respectively.
Buoyed by last month’s results, Mr Wichai said foreign visitors could reach 1.5 million in December, up on an average of 1.2-1.3 million in recent years. Promotions for charter flights to hotspots such as Pattaya, Koh Samui, Krabi and Phuket this month would support the rise.
The wave of new arrivals was in part down to the TAT’s promotional campaign to restore the country’s tourism industry, battered by political turmoil, he said.
Immigration Bureau statistics showed visitors from East Asia rose by 29.78% year-on-year to 660,688 in November. Chinese visitors also surged by 110.38% to 92,541, while Japanese arrivals rose by 14.23% to 87,267. Asean visitors rose by 29.78% to 364,268. European arrivals also boomed, increasing by 16.66% to 418,927, while those from the Middle East rose by 58.46% to 44,987.
Despite the positive statistics, November registered a year-to-date contraction of 7.3% in foreign arrivals to 12.44 million, down from 13.43 million in 2008, according to the TAT.
The TAT board yesterday approved the nomination of Surapol Svetasreni as its new governor. Mr Surapol is scheduled to sign a contract with the agency on Dec 22 and to start work from Jan 1.
Bangkok Post
15 December 2009
Pattaya Airport is a simple terminal equipped with necessary facilities like refreshment, customs and immigration, money exchange and an information desk.
You would be thinking how to reach Pattaya once you are in Thailand. Here we are discussing various options you can choose for reaching Pattaya.
Thanks to booming economy of Pattaya, property has become productive business. Big names related to property have invested in Pattaya and many new housing and commercial complexes have come up. Property rates have skyrocketed in Pattaya.