Tourism booms as passengers top 500,000

PHUKET TOWN: The latest figures on air passenger arrivals and departures show that Phuket is in the middle of a tourism boom with a record 509,841 visitors coming and going in January. This is the first time the half-million figure has been exceeded in a single calendar month. The number represents a whopping 23% increase on the figure of 390,109 recorded in January last year. The number of flights was also up, from 2,609 flights in January 2003 to 2,936 flights this year. Of these, 636 were charter flights – up from 542 in January 2003. There were 1,225 domestic flights carrying 268,079 passengers and 1,711 international flights with 241,762 passengers. “Most charter flights are coming from Asia, especially Japan, Korea and China, and also from Norway and Sweden,” said Lt Cdr Boonchart Prompoon, Director of the Airports Authority of Thailand, Phuket. “Tourism is booming now, with good support from the government.” No figures were available for the average waiting time for tourists in the queues for Immigration counters.