In Phuket, Indians are the top tourist group since Test & Go scrapped
Now that Thailand Pass has dropped its much hated ‘Test & Go’ scheme, Indian tourists are the biggest tourist group on the island province, according to Phuket International Airport Immigration. Between May 1-18, 12,200 Indians have travelled to Phuket. The other countries on a list of 10 with the most tourists in Phuket, in order, are Australia, Singapore, UK, Russia, Germany, Malaysia, US, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
The director of the Phuket Tourism and Sports office told The Phuket Express the number of Indian tourists arriving at the world-renowned beach paradise is expected to keep bumping up. The director, Ratchadaphon Oin, said…
“At least 200,000 foreign tourists are scheduled to be arriving in Phuket this month and we expect India to continue to lead the way.”
Tourism officials have given different estimates on the number of foreign tourists expected to come to Thailand this year. Ratchadaphon said that this year, the total of foreign tourists expected to come to Phuket is 5 million. Last week, the president of the Phuket Tourist Association said he was optimistic that Phuket could potentially draw up to 3.5 million foreign tourists this year.
Ratchadaphon said that Indians are expected to remain the top tourist group, unless the situations in Russia and China change. With China still under lockdown measures and showing no signs of opening up any time soon, Thailand is focusing on the big spenders of Europe and India to boost tourism and its ailing economy.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Intelligence Centre revealed Tuesday that the top five tourist markets are the UK (84,600), India (82,000), Germany (71,000), the US (61,000) and Russia (60,000). Last month Russia and Germany were No.1 and No.2 in the tourist hit parade while India wasn’t in the top five.
SOURCE: The Phuket Express
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