Inaugural flight from Uzbekistan arrives in Phuket

An inaugural flight from Uzbekistan arrived in Phuket this morning. Sharq Airlines flight HH2203 arrived at Phuket International Airport from Uzbekistan’s capital city of Tashkent.

The flight carried 238 passengers, who received HKT We Care waterproof bags from the airport, The Phuket Express reported.

This news comes after Thai tourism officials announced last month that they were seeking more tourists from Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Tourism Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said that Kazakh and Uzbek tourists started to show interest after Thailand extended its Visa on Arrival from 15 to 30 days on October 1.

Thailand saw 2,496 arrivals from Uzbekistan in the first eight months of this year. The Tourism Ministry expects 8,500 this year. In 2019, the number of Uzbekistani tourists in Thailand was 19,000. Phiphat noted that Uzbek tourists had high spending power.

Meanwhile, Thailand’s overall tourism hit another milestone. As of October 26, the kingdom witnessed 7,349,843 international tourists arriving, surpassing the 7 million mark. It’s put the country within its goal range set by the Tourism Authority of Thailand of 7 to 10 million visitors for 2022.

The top five ports of entry included Thailand’s three international airport hubs and two land crossing checkpoints. As expected, Suvarnabhumi Airport brought in the most people, over four times more than the second busiest port of entry, Phuket International Airport. Bangkok’s secondary Airport Don Mueang International Airport brought in just over half as many as Phuket.