Minister of Tourism is sure tourists will flood Thailand November 1

Though often criticised for its overly-optimistic tourism predictions seemingly pulled out of thin air, this time the Thai government is sure people will be flooding back in as the borders reopen on November 1. Minister of Tourism and Sports Pipat Ratchakitprakan said that Thailand needs to brace itself for an onslaught of international travellers flooding into the country come November 1.

The Minister said that Thailand has traditionally been a popular winter destination with travellers from colder Western and Northern countries flocking to the sunny beaches of Thailand to enjoy a warm winter. Though Covid-19 has nearly decimated Thailand’s tourism industry, as the world is slowly reopening and international travel and tourism, the Minister is confident that tourists are ready to pour back into Thailand.

He urged Thailand to prepare for this influx of tourists and be ready for them with a strong screening process to keep Covid-19 safety streamlined and effective. Recently Tourism Authority of Thailand Governor Yuthasak Supasorn suggested dropping the complex and frustrating certificate of entry requirement as well the reduce the costs of the required RT-PCR to under 1,000 baht each to help lure international travellers back to Thailand.

The Tourism Minister remains optimistic though and says he believes that the reopening on November 1 will begin the flow of tourists through the end of the year and kickoff 2022 with a boom in tourism.

Krungsri Securities is predicting 300,000 tourists arriving in Thailand by the end of 2021, and 14 million tourist arrivals in 2022. They forecast that 2023 will finally begin to be back to normal with an estimated 34 million tourists coming and finally a full recovery in 2024 with the prediction of 40 million tourists, the same as 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic brought the tourism market crashing down.

SOURCE: Nation Thailand and Bloomberg