Total visitor arrivals in Thailand up 13.79 percent

Total visitor arrivals for January to June 2010 were up by 13.79 per cent, which demonstrates that tourism in Thailand is finally on the road to recovery.  

According to figures calculated by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, Thailand welcomed 8,766,706 visitors up from 7,703,971 over the same period in 2009.

The June/July 2010 arrivals picked up significantly, thanks to a number of recovery programmes after the recent political riots in addition to a range of promotional packages.

Based on the figures, Tourism Authority of Thailand officials are optimistic that it will soon be possible to meet the 2010 target of 14 million total arrivals.

East Asian visitor arrivals to Thailand comprise the biggest market share of all visitors.

During the January – July period, a total of 4.33 million arrivals were from the East Asian region.

Malaysia topped the list with 1,086,247 arrivals, followed by China (561,634), Japan (546,947) and Korea (445,809).

Arrivals in the first seven months of 2010 from Australia grew by 10.52% to 438,241 visitors.
 Visitor arrivals from South Asia grew by 16.91 per cent to 532,664. India became a primary market with a 19.88 per cent boost in arrivals up to 405,389, making it the region’s fastest growing market.

Arrivals from The Americas saw a 1.59 per cent increase up to 492,509. Ordinarily the main market, the US, experienced a slight decrease by 0.07 per cent to 356,104. However, arrivals from both Brazil and Canada showed a 15.67 per cent and 1.9 per cent growth respectively.

Sourced=etravelblackboard