Thailand on target to meet 25 million visitors in 2023: TAT
An impressive 24,081,613 foreign tourists entered Thailand between January 1 and November 25 this year, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) announced on Tuesday, adding foreign arrivals in November alone amounted to 100,059 people.
The authority is confident that total foreign arrivals this year will exceed its target of 25 million people, TAT governor Thapanee Kiatphaibool said.
She credited the successful revival of the tourism industry to the government’s economic and tourism stimulus campaigns, as expressed appreciation to all Thais for being such great hosts to overseas guests.
Thapanee said Malaysians contributed the most to total foreign arrivals this year, at 3.66 million people, followed by Chinese (3.03 million), South Koreans (1.43 million), Indians (1.4 million) and Russians (1.24 million).
The top five foreign visitors in November hailed from Malaysia (15,467), China (11,556), Russia (6,538), India (5,842) and South Korea (5,652).
Thapanee said TAT would continue to promote Thailand’s image and ensure the safety of tourists to further attract foreign visitors, especially from China.
She cited a Chinese poll which indicated that 81.2% of Chinese tourists prioritise safety when travelling in 2023, up from 34.7% revealed by the survey in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Even with Chinese government’s more stringent rules for outbound travel, Thailand is still among the top destinations that mainland Chinese want to visit,” she said.
