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Record number of Indian tourists visit Thailand

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HOMELATESTTRENDINGMY READS Budget 2020Income Tax CalculatorMarket DashboardCompaniesMarketsPodcastsMoneyStart-upsMutual FundsNRI Investment QueriesInsuranceTechnologyIndustryLoungeOpinionPoliticsMint 50 - Top Mutual FundsMark To MarketLong ReadsPlain Facts At a beachfront hotel on the tropical island of Phuket, the occupancy rate from Chinese clientele has stalled, while bookings from India have begun to rise. (istockphoto) At a beachfront hotel on the tropical island of Phuket, the occupancy rate from Chinese clientele has stalled, while bookings from India have begun to rise. (istockphoto)

Record number of Indian tourists visit Thailand

3 min read . Updated: 08 Jul 2019, 08:14 AM ISTSiraphob Thanthong-Knight , Bloomberg
  • Indians spend 11% more per trip than average foreign visitors
  • Indian arrivals accelerated in recent months due to more direct flights, a visa waiver and, most importantly, increasing wealth
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BANGKOK : Thailand’s struggling tourism industry is finding support with visitors from the population colossus to its west, just as the years of bumper arrivals from the giant to its north are beginning to wane.

At a beachfront hotel on the tropical island of Phuket, the occupancy rate from Chinese clientele has stalled, while bookings from India have begun to rise. The Vijitt Resort is one of many in Thailand that has more cause for optimism.

“We’re starting to see new growth," said Kongsak Khoopongsakorn, Vijitt’s general manager and vice president of the Thai Hotels Association. “Indians are now driving industry growth like the Chinese had previously done."

What’s happening to Thai tourism could prove a canary in the coal mine for the leisure sector in other Asian economies as China matures and a new India emerges. The Thai industry had been expanding at about about 10% a year on escalating inbound Chinese arrivals, but a 2018 boat accident in Phuket that killed dozens of mainlanders and a slowing economy at home have triggered a drop in numbers.

In contrast, Indian arrivals accelerated in recent months due to more direct flights, a visa waiver and, most importantly, increasing wealth.

The rapid expansion of the middle class among India’s 1.3 billion people has prompted Thai authorities to upgrade their estimates of Indian visitors. At least 10 million are now expected to arrive in 2028, a more than five-fold increase on 2018 visits. That sort of growth trajectory would mimic the rise of Chinese tourists, who jumped from 800,000 in 2008 to more than 10 million last year.

Although China will remain an important market, it is likely to offer less growth potential in the years ahead. India, meanwhile, is set to become the new expansion story in Thai tourism, an industry that accounts for about 20% of gross domestic product.

Chinese visitors currently make up 28% of total foreign arrivals, well ahead of Indians at 4%. But within a decade, Indian arrivals are forecast to surge to about 15% of the total, while Chinese are predicted to edge up to about 30%.

“The Indian inbound market could potentially rival that of China," said Pisit Puapan, executive director of the Finance Ministry’s Macroeconomic Policy Bureau. Pisit said high growth from India has also helped offset a decline from markets like Europe.

Thailand received about 180,000 Indian tourists in June, a record, the Tourism Ministry reported last week. It also said Indians spend 11% more per trip than average foreign visitors.

Chinese arrivals could actually fall this year from 2018 as the yuan has weakened against the baht, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. That might deter more cost-conscious Chinese tourists, or see them spend less if they do make the trip.

A cooling tourism market and dividend repatriation combined to help produce Thailand’s first current account deficit since 2014. The country’s forecast economic growth has already been revised down to the lowest level in four years as exports also fizzled.

Frequent Flyer

There are more direct flights between Indian and Thai cities, one reason for the jump in visitors to Bangkok, Phuket and surrounding areas. They are drawn by Thailand’s food and shopping, and its beaches are emerging as significant attractions.

India’s fifth-largest airline GoAirlines India Pvt currently connects three Indian cities to Phuket, and plans to add seven more. InterGlobe Aviation Ltd’s IndiGo launched services to the tropical island late last year.

Thai AirAsia Co Ltd, the kingdom’s largest low-cost carrier, recorded 20% growth in passengers traveling between India and Thailand in the first quarter of 2019 from a year earlier. It now operates 47 flights a week from Bangkok to nine Indian cities, and said it plans to add an additional destination.

With India projected to overtake China as the world’s most populous nation in eight years, and its middle class forecast to keep expanding, Thai Hotels Association’s Kongsak is cautious but hopeful about the future.

“We expect the industry will continue to grow," he said. “But it’s important to spread the risk and have a good nationality mix in the market. We can’t rely on any single market."

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Tasty Thailand

 
 
 
 

How Many Tourists Visit Thailand Every Year?

PUBLISHED OCTOBER 2, 2012 · UPDATED FEBRUARY 27, 2019

 

how-many-tourists-to-thailand-every-year

One of the questions Thais and foreigners alike often ask is how many tourists visit Thailand every year? Unfortunately, there is no definitive answer to that question, as the statistics change depending on which Thai agency you listen to and how each agency classifies “tourists”.

What we do know is, according to each successive Thai government, tourism makes up around 7-8 percent of the country’s entire GDP. So, as you can guess, that means a heckuva lot of tourists visit Thailand each year.

 

In 2016, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), more than 32.59 million tourists visited Thailand, which was an almost 20 percent increase over the year before, and a record number for the country.

However, when you look at the figures closely, TAT is not really counting “tourists” but instead every foreigner that arrives at any airport or land border in Thailand.

As this does include people from neighboring countries who cross over the border for the day just to shop, as well as migrant workers who may be coming to Thailand to work, as you can guess the numbers are not particularly accurate.

Thailand has, however, been in the top 20 most visited countries in the world for several years and, in 2018, was at number 10.

What is interesting too about the number of tourists visiting Thailand, as western tourists tend to stay around the same levels, Asian tourists from countries like Malaysia, Singapore and China are increasing in number every year.

Malaysia, China and Japan had the most tourists visiting Thailand in 2016, with Australia, the UK and the United States in eighth, ninth and tenth places.

Whatever the real number of tourists that visit Thailand every year, one thing you can guarantee is it is well over 32 million every year and it is increasing by a large percent every year. No surprise there really, though, as Thailand truly is one of the must-visit tourist destinations, at least once in your life.

Now watch the Brand Thailand video below, and learn why Thailand is so popular with tourists, and about the out-of-the-way places all around the country that Thais and non-Thais recommend you visit while you are there.

 

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Tasty Thailand - copyright 2017. All Rights Reserved

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