Thai tourism boost: 25.8 million Asian tourists expected in 2024

In a bid to breathe fresh life into the Thai tourism sector in 2024, The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) aims to attract an impressive tally of 25.8 million tourists. The focus is on visitors from geographically proximate Asian and South Pacific countries categorised as short-haul markets, shared Thanet Petchsuwan, TAT Deputy Governor. This quota forms a significant portion, 74% to be precise, of the bigger picture which is to welcome 35 million international globetrotters next year.

Thanet said…

“The revenue target we’re looking at through this strategy is approximately 1.2 trillion baht, which is about 63% of the grand goal of pooling 1.92 trillion baht from foreign markets.”

The specifics of the short-haul Thai tourism market goals encompass 12.48 million visitors from Eastern Asia, 10.51 million from ASEAN countries, 2.1 million from South Asia, and 787,000 from Oceania.

However, making inroads in the Chinese market continues to be a substantial hurdle, said Thanet.

“Despite some positive upticks in Chinese tourist influx this year, it’s too soon to predict whether we will be successful in hitting our goal of 5 million tourists. Especially when you consider that only 1.44 million Chinese tourists arrived in Thailand in the first half of this year.”

Siripakorn Cheawsamoot, TAT Deputy Governor for Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Americas, shared insights regarding TAT’s objectives with respect to long-haul markets like Europe and the US.

“Our objective for 2024 is to attract 9.2 million tourists from these territories, making up 26% of the total international tourist target.

“In terms of revenue, however, we envisage these markets to contribute a commendable 37% equating to around 721 billion baht.”

This estimation is based on the average stay durations of tourists from these regions. The Europeans, for example, tend to vacation for an average of 19 days, spending around 71,718 baht per excursion.

Figures from Central and South American tourists are also encouraging with an average expenditure of 99,172 baht across a 16.17 days visit. American tourists, with an expenditure of around 76,297 baht have an average stay duration of 15.26 days, giving a boost to the Thai tourism industry.

Siripakorn happily noted that the statistics for the long-haul Thai tourism market exceeded expectations in 2023. TAT had set the bar at 7 million tourists, only to have 8 million tourists grace Thai shores. The Russian market posed an interesting revelation. He said…

“Our targets for Russian tourists were set at 1 million for the entire year, but in the first six months itself, we were nearing the goalpost with 789,000 Russian tourists exploring the Thai realms.”

High hopes are pinned on Russian tourists in particular, for the coming year as the Thai tourism market demonstrates immense potential, reported Pattaya News.