TAT expects more Chinese and Thai tourists in Phuket for Labour Day weekend

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) expects more Chinese and Thai tourists to visit Thailand’s picturesque island province of Phuket during the Labour Day weekend. TAT governor Yuthasak Supasorn reported a 60% improvement in tourism from January to March 2023 compared to the same period last year, with 6,518,578 foreign visitors generating 334.7 million baht. Speaking to Thai media, Yuthasak said…

“At the end of this month and the beginning of next month will be Chinese Labour Day holidays… More Chinese tourists are expected to visit Thailand.”

Thailand’s Minister of Tourism and Sports, Pipat Ratchakitprakarn, also commented that Asian tourists are following social media influencers who are visiting Thailand.

According to Pipat…

“More tourists from Asia and Northeast Asia are coming to Thailand… the number of European and American tourists are decreasing due to the end of high-season tourism in those countries.”

Chinese tourism platform Ctrip reports that over 150,000 Chinese nationals visited Thailand in February, and tourism is expected to improve by 80% between April and June, compared to four years ago.

The upcoming May Day holiday, which runs from April 29 until May 3 and sees many people in China taking five days off, is expected to see a significant surge in international travel. Recent data shows that Chinese travellers’ international hotel bookings have increased 30-fold year on year (YOY), surpassing pre-pandemic 2019 volumes by 18%, reported TravelDailyNews.

The Bank of Thailand (BoT) predicts that the Land of Smiles will see 28 million tourists this year, with visitors expected from across the globe.

TAT is pushing for 150,000 Saudi tourists this year. There has been a significant increase in the number of Saudi visitors to the Land of Smiles over the years. In 2015, Thailand welcomed 25,153 Saudi tourists, while in 2016 and 2017, the numbers increased to 33,038 and 42,610 respectively.

TAT is also expecting to welcome six million tourists from Europe this year, generating over 420 billion baht in revenue. The figure represents approximately 80% of pre-pandemic levels. The TAT estimates a total tourism revenue for Thailand of 1.5 trillion baht for 2023.