Big Increase in International Visitors to Thailand in First Half of 2011

There were 11,178,275 international visitors to Thailand in the period January – July 2011. This was up 26.52 percent over the same period of 2010. Visitors from East Asia totalled 5,936,796 (market share: 53.11% of total arrivals), Europe 3,014,207 (29.96% of total arrivals), the Americas 567,733 (5.08% of total arrivals), South Asia 701,685 (6.28% of total arrivals), Oceania 506,417 (4.53% of total arrivals), Middle East 371,847 (3.33% of total arrivals) and Africa 79,590 (0.71% of total arrivals).

East Asia:  Arrivals from East Asia grew by 34.64%.  Malaysia was the best performer with the largest market share of 12.39% (or 1.38 million visitors).   China was the second biggest source market with total arrivals of 975,770, up 73.65%.  Japan recorded total arrivals of 664,066, up 21.39%.  Korea recorded total arrivals of 598,672, up 34.30%.  Arrivals from the neighbouring ASEAN countries also showed good growth, e.g., Brunei (+18.46%), Cambodia (+57.13%), Indonesia (+43.80%), Laos (+16.85%), Myanmar (+37.21%), Philippines (+25.14%), Singapore (+24.43%) and Vietnam (+44.19%). 

Europe:  Arrivals from Europe grew by 17.52%.  Russia overtook UK and Germany to become the largest source market from Europe. In January – July 2011, Russian visitors to Thailand totalled 578,532, up 77.82% over the same period of 2010. In the early days, Russian visitors began flocking on charters to Pattaya to escape the harsh winters. Today, they have become mainstream travellers.   United Kingdom and Germany ranked the second and third largest sources of visitor arrivals — 498,675 (+4.71%) and 369,634 (+4.62%), respectively.  French visitor arrivals totalled 310,549 (+14.11%).  Arrivals from the Nordic countries of Denmark and Sweden grew by 7.64% and 10.42%, respectively. Norway had a lower growth of 3.66%. 

The Americas: Arrivals from the Americas grew by 15.35%.  The US was the tenth biggest source market for Thailand. American visitor arrivals totalled 405,442 (+13.80%).   Canadian visitors to Thailand grew by 17.77% to 117,933. 

South Asia:  Visitor arrivals from South Asia showed a good growth of 31.82%.  India was the biggest source of visitors in South Asia experienced growth of 36.21% to 552,321.   Visitors from Pakistan and Sri Lanka grew respectively by 21.87% and 20.91%.  Bangladesh showed a growth of 18.44%.

Oceania:  Visitor arrivals from Oceania grew by 15.38%.  Arrivals from Australia and New Zealand were up 16.21% to 451,537 and 8.04% to 53,118, respectively.  Unfortunately, the Oceania percentage increase figure is one of the lowest in the researh findings. This will mean that more marketing and promotions will need to be made in Australia and New Zealand to encorage more people to vist Thailand in the future.

Middle East:  Visitors from Middle East grew by 11.69%.  All major Middle East markets significantly grew especially Saudi Arabia (53.56%) and Kuwait (33.07%). Arrivals from the UAE grew by 12.20%. Egypt experienced a decline of 3.21%.

Africa: Visitor arrivals from Africa grew strongly by 22.58% to 79,590.

A recent survey showed that foreign tourists still had a positive attitude toward Thailand. Moreover, Asian economies have showed steady economic improvements and the short-haul markets; such as, India, China and Indonesia are promising. At the same time, the airline industry is adding more flights from key markets; such as, Australia, Japan, and Singapore.

For 2011, from the estimated trend, TAT estimates that there will be 18.5 million visitors with foreign exchange earnings of USD 23 billion.

For further information contact International Public Relations Division, Tourism Authority of Thailand, Tel: +66 (0) 2250 5500 ext. 4545-48, Fax: +66 (0) 2253 7419, E-mail: prdiv3@tat.or.th, Web site: www.tatnews.org,