More VN tourists choose Thailand
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The number of Vietnamese tourists visiting Thailand has jumped tenfold in the past 12 years, rewarding the efforts of the Thai government to attract more visitors from that country.
According to the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s Ho Chi Minh City office, more than 530,000 Vietnamese visited Thailand in the first 10 months of last year. In 2000 the number was a mere 57,000.
Vietnam is the 13th-largest tourism market for Thailand. Vietnamese tourists are fairly big spenders, said Chutathip Chareonlarp, director of the TAT office in Ho Chi Minh City.
In 2011 it was estimated that 430,000 Vietnamese tourists spent Bt13.68 billion in Thailand.
Though the figures for 2012 have not been calculated yet, with tourist arrivals rising by 20-30 per cent, the amount could top US$500 million (Bt15.2 billion).
The average length of stay of a Vietnamese tourist was 6.04 days in 2011, with an average daily expenditure of Bt4,035.
The rate of repeat visitors was reported at around 60 per cent.
Thailand has the advantage of low prices and plenty of tourist attractions and entertainment options, and the TAT actively organises familiarisation trips for media agencies in Vietnam.
The top five destinations for Vietnamese visitors are Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket, Kanchanaburi and Udon Thani. Destinations gaining popularity include the Northeast, Samui Island and Phuket.
Bangkok has been rated the world's second-best city for tourist shopping and third-best in terms of value for money by 75,000 travellers covering 40 cities on travel site TripAdvisor. Thailand’s tourism target for 2012 was set at more than 20 million foreign visitors, up from 16 million two years ago. China, Malaysia, Japan and Russia are its biggest markets.
