Thailand sees influx of Eastern European visitors
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Over 1.6 million Eastern European tourists landed in Thailand in 2012, 82 per cent from Russia, according to a research.
According to newly released market research by consulting firm C9 Hotelworks, of total, 650,000 visited Phuket in the year, injecting US$1.2 billion into the island's economy.
Russia's outbound market to South East Asia shot up over 1.8 million in 2012, making it one the year's leading storylines. Over 71 per cent of travelers visited Thailand, followed by Vietnam with 9 per cent and 5 per cent for both Indonesia and Cambodia. Singapore attracted 4 per cent of the total.
In 2005, the number of Eastern European visitors to Thailand was only 175,000.
Bill Barnett, managing director of C9 Hotelworks, attributed the sharp increase to the visa exemption implemented in 2007, coupled with the rise of sustained economic explosion in the other Europe - the East.
