Tourism arrivals in Thailand up 7.5% so far this year

• Chinese tourists are still accounting for nearly a third of arrivals.

• Russian, UK and German tourists record strong rises for 2018

• Australian and New Zealand arrivals down just over 1% (average) for the year

The Ministry of Tourism and Sports has announced the tourism figures for January-November 2018, providing an accurate indication of what the country can expect for year’s end numbers.

Thailand welcomed 34,431,489 international visitors, up by 7.5% over the same period of last year, generating an estimated 1.8 billion baht in tourism revenue, up by 9.8%. Despite the concerns over Chinese tourism drops in some parts of the country, the actual numbers of Chinese arrivals in 2018 has risen 7.9%.

The highlight of the results was the fact that seven countries (China, Malaysia, South Korea, Lao PDR., Japan, India, and Russia) have already generated more than one million visitor arrivals each, and three more countries (USA, Vietnam and Singapore) were set to follow suit when the full year 2018 results are finally tabulated.

“We are overjoyed to have this result in the last quarter of 2018. The 35 million visitor target is now set to be met. It is a tribute to the cooperation and creativity of the entire Thai travel and tourism industry to ensure that it remains our primary sector for job creation, distribution of income nationwide, and contribution to cultural, heritage and environmental preservation”, says TAT Governor Yuthasak Supasorn.

Overview: All regions grew well except the Middle East and Oceania. Visitors from East Asia totalled 23.62 million (+9.21%), Europe 5.91 million (+4.03%), the Americas 1.41 million (+3.70%), South Asia 1.77 million (+11.32%), Oceania 838,713 (-1.40%), the Middle East 683,420 (-6.24%), and Africa 174,565 (+9.63%).

East Asia: East Asian visitor arrivals comprised the biggest market share of all visitors. A total of 23.62 million or 68% were from East Asian countries. Apart from China (9.69 million), the other top sources of arrivals were Malaysia (3.56 million), South Korea (1.62 million), Lao PDR. (1.59 million) and Japan (1.50 million).

The ASEAN countries in total generated over 9.17 million arrivals, with growth by Malaysia (+15.52%), the Philippines (+12.63%), Indonesia (+11.52%), Vietnam (+10.18%), Cambodia (+4.59%), Lao PDR. (+4.48%), Singapore (+3.73%), and Myanmar (+0.68%). Only Brunei showed a decline (-3.89%).

Europe: European visitors were up 4.03% to 5.91 million. Russia retained its status as the largest source market from Europe with arrivals of 1.26 million, up 10.33%. The United Kingdom was the second highest source market with a total of 877,502, followed by Germany 789,150, up 4.46%, and France 677,579, up 1.46%.

Other Europe: Visitor markets also grew from East Europe (+9.22%), Austria (+12.08%), the Netherlands (+6.41%), Italy (+6.17%), Denmark (+4.25%), Finland (+2.22%), Belgium (+1.84%), and Spain (+1.32%).

The Americas: Arrivals from the Americas grew by 3.70% to 1.41 million. The main market, the USA, increased by 6.37% to 993,631. Arrivals from Canada were up 7.18% to 245,227.

South Asia: Arrivals from South Asia grew by a strong 11.32% to 1.77 million. India topped the list with arrivals up by 12.03% to 1.42 million. Other countries also showed good growth; such as, Nepal (+27.63%), Bangladesh (+8.21%), Sri Lanka (+2.81%), and Pakistan (+2.70%).

Oceania: Arrivals from Oceania declined by 1.40% to 838,713 visitors. Australian visitors declined by 1.61% to 728,720. Arrivals from New Zealand declined by 0.23% to 106,378.

Middle East: Arrivals from the UAE declined by 7.16% to 117,162. Arrivals from Saudi Arabia declined by 18.99% to 26,075. However, some markets like Kuwait (+2.74%) reported good results.

Africa: Arrivals from Africa grew by 9.63% to 174,565, mainly due to arrivals from South Africa (86,509).

SOURCE: TAT, Department of Immigration