Tourism jumps 25% through May, led by Chinese

Tourism jumps 25% through May, led by Chinese

Chinese tourists take a selfie at Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall. (Photo by Narupon Hinshiranan)

More than 12 million international travellers visited Thailand in the first five months of 2015, up 24.7% from same period last year when pre-coup protests at were at their height.

According to the latest figures from the Department of Tourism, 12.4 million tourists arrived from January through May, putting the country on track to beat its estimate of 28 million visitors for the entire year.

The Ministry of Tourism and Sports department said Chinese tourists led the pack with 3.3 million arrivals, followed by Malaysia with 1.4 million, Japan with 575,186, South Korea with 546,520, and Laos with 459,225.

The department said the tourists generated 592.9 billion baht in revenue, up 25.1% over the first five months of 2014. The ministry is projecting total earnings from tourism to hit the 2015 target of 2.2 trillion baht, with 1.4 trillion baht from international tourism and 800 billion baht from domestic travellers.

In May alone, Thailand welcomed 2.3 million tourists, a year-on-year increase of 38.2%, and 18.8% more than May 2013.

By region, strong growth was reported in arrivals from east and south Asia, the Middle East and the US. Only the European market posted a decline, primarily because of the plunge in arrivals from Russia.

From January through April, the most-visited provinces were Bangkok with 18.1 million visitors, followed by Nakhon Ratchasima, Phuket, Chon Buri and Chiang Mai.

Nakhon Si Thammarat posted the highest hotel-occupancy rates in April at 59.2%, followed by Trang, Trat, Lampang Chumphon, and Samut Songkram.

Analysis of visitor expenditures in the January-May period indicated that the top spenders were Chinese tourists, followed by Malaysians, Russians, the British and Americans.

On a per-trip basis, Israelis spent the most, with an average expenditure of 84,995 baht per person, followed by Swedes, Canadians, the Swiss and Brazillians.

Buri Ram province reported the highest tourism income with 3.7 billion Baht, followed by Nakhon Si Thammarat, Trat, Trang, and Chumphon.

Source: The Bangkok Post