BANGKOK – Thailand’s tourism sector showed mixed results in 2007, as political and security uncertainties in the wake of the September 2006 coup led to fewer East Asian arrivals.
But double-digit growth from European, Middle Eastern and South Asian visitors could help the sector reach official targets of 14.8 million visitors and revenues of 547 billion baht for the full year. Tourist arrivals in 2006 totalled 13.82 million.
Visitor arrivals in the first nine months of the year at Suvarnabhumi Airport rose just four percent to 7.47 million.
The Bangkok Post reported East Asian visitors dropped 3.8 percent in the first nine months from last year to 3.5 million, with arrivals from China, Singapore and Malaysia all down sharply.
Visitors from Japan rose 2.5 percent in the first nine months to 873,788, while Korean tourist arrivals rose 8.2 percent to 622,888.
Phornsiri Manoharn, the governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, said Asian visitors were ”sensitive” to potential unrest following the 2006 coup in Thailand.
She credited the growth in Japanese and Korean travellers to efforts by the TAT and private operators launched in the second half of 2007 to accelerate activity in both markets.
Strong growth from other markets would also help overall growth, led by a 13 percent increase in European travellers in the first nine months to 2.1 million. South Asian visitors showed similar growth rates, at 12.6 percent to 493,926, while Middle Eastern tourists increased 16.2 percent to 324,021 and Oceania visitors by 22.3 percent to 397,013.
”Actually, the TAT isn’t really that focused on visitor numbers. Our policy focus now is on quality tourism and revenues more than actual arrivals,” Mrs Phornsiri said.
For 2008, the TAT has set an arrival target of 15.5 million, up five percent from the previous year, with revenues from overseas visitors rising 10 percent to 600 billion baht.
Of the TAT’s four-billion-baht budget for 2008, 1.2 billion went to overseas marketing, up from 1.07 billion the previous year.
Activities would focus on 21 primary countries in Europe, as well as Japan, China and India, and 14 new target markets in Eastern Europe, South Africa, India and Vietnam.
