Only 5.5 million tourists expected to visit Thailand this year: Krungsri Research
Thailand is expected to see 5.5 million tourists this year despite the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration scrapping the Test & Go scheme from May, Krungsri Research said on Wednesday.
It said the Russia-Ukraine war will affect tourists’ plans to visit Thailand, especially tourists from Russia and other European countries. The energy crisis due to the conflict would affect global economic recovery, it added.
“China is likely to maintain its international travel restrictions to contain the spread of Covid-19,” Krungsri Research said.
“Meanwhile, intensifying competition from other countries to grab a share of the foreign tourist market would limit the number of tourists visiting the Kingdom to 5.5 million, compared to 39.79 million before the Covid-19 pandemic,” it added.
Separately, the Public Debt Management Office said the government is still able to borrow around 1.3 trillion baht before public debt hits a ceiling of 70 per cent to gross domestic product.
The office said the government would conduct a public hearing from every sector in May to draw up a plan to achieve economic recovery amid the Covid-19 situation and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Currently, as much as 74 billion baht is available under a 500 billion baht loan act, while the government can use 60 billion from the central budget, of which up to 40 billion has been reserved for tackling crises.
