Arrivals hit nearly 2m this year as Thai tourism floodgates open
Thailand received almost two million foreign tourists in the first half of 2022, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).
The country saw a total of 1,913,553 foreign visitors from January 1 to June 22, said Chattan Kunjara na Ayudhya, TAT’s deputy governor for marketing in Europe, Africa, Mideast, and the Americas.
The Indian market provided the largest number of tourist arrivals during the period with 204,427, followed by Malaysia (167,524), UK (117,669), Singapore (114,161) and the US (97,792).
Suvarnabhumi Airport topped the list of entry points with 1,158,099 tourists, followed by Phuket Airport (457,164), Don Muang Airport (82,284), the Sadao-Malaysia checkpoint (50,425) and the Nong Kai-Laos checkpoint (26,019).
Arrivals are expected to surge from next Friday (July 1), when Thailand Pass and insurance requirements will be scrapped for foreign tourists.
Lifting the Covid-19 travel restrictions will help the TAT achieve its goal of 10 million tourist arrivals this year, Chattan said.
It was also in line with the Cabinet’s decision to extend the “Visit Thailand Year” promotion campaign for quarantine-free travel for another year, he added.