Nearly three million tourists visited the country in May 2018, reported Bangkok Post.
Thailand’s tourist growth saw a significant drop from an average of 10% in earlier months to 6.3% in May, according to Thai authorities.
Nearly three million tourists visited the country in May 2018, reported Bangkok Post.
Pongpanu Svetarundra, the permanent secretary of the Tourism and Sports Ministry, cited the low season, Ramadan, as well as the 2018 FIFA World Cup as the main factors behind the sluggish numbers.
The good news, on the other hand, is that tourism revenue remains relatively healthy. Over the past five months, tourism revenue totalled THB$1.2 trillion (US$36 billion), an increase of 6%. In terms of contribution, THB$350 million (US$10.7 million) came from local tourists, while THB$800 billion (US$24.5 billion) came from foreign visitors from East Asia, Europe, South Asia, America, Oceania, Middle East and Africa. Chinese tourists, in particular, remains the largest group of tourists to Thailand.
Despite the slowing visitorship, Svetarundra remains optimistic. “We believe the growth will start accelerating in August, bringing in THB$3 trillion (US$91 billion) in revenue as targeted.”
For 2018, the ministry hopes to see a 10% year-on-year growth in the number of visitors, which translates to about 37-38 million.