Thailand expected to be in top 10 for long-term tourism growth
THAILAND’S travel and tourism sector grew by nearly 11 per cent in 2016 and will be the world’s 10th-fastest-growing over the next decade, with an average growth rate of 6.5 per cent per annum, a new report by the World Travel & Tourism Council predicts.
Travel and tourism contributed Bt2.9 trillion to Thailand’s gross domestic product last year, which was 20.6 per cent of total GDP. Additionally, the sector supported more than 15 per cent of total employment last year, for a total of 5.7 million jobs.
Visitor exports
The report also showed that visitor exports, which is money spent by foreign visitors in the country, grew by 13 per cent, generating Bt1.9 trillion |– 19.2 per cent of total |exports.
Investment in the sector totalled Bt245.5 billion, accounting for 7.1 per cent of all investment in the country. This investment served not only to boost inbound figures, but Thailand’s outbound expenditure grew by 10.7 per cent, showing that the country is not only an attractive destination in itself but that its citizens are increasingly exploring internationally, the report found.
This year, the sector’s total contribution to the Thai economy is forecast to grow by 6.9 per cent and to rise by 6.5 per cent per year on average |over the next decade to |Bt5.9 trillion, which would |represent nearly a third of GDP.
The number of jobs in the sector is expected to rise by 6.9 per cent this year to 6.1 million and rise by 4.6 per cent per year to 9.6 million jobs by |2027 (24.9 per cent of the total number of jobs).
This means that 3.9 million new jobs are expected to be created in Thailand by the sector over the next 10 years.
