New record in arrivals for Thailand tourism means that the country will surpass its target of 20.5 million foreign tourists in 2012. The Ministry of tourism is also particularly pleased with the positive evolution of film shooting in the Kingdom which generates more advertising to the country.
BANGKOK- With a growth rate of 7.21% for the period of January to June, Thailand is on its way to reach a new record in total arrivals according to a statement of Thailand Ministry of Tourism and Sports. The Ministry confirmed to expect now to reach 20.5 million travellers by year-end as total arrivals reached 8.87 million during the first half of 2012. So far January set a new monthly record with 1.9 million visitors while March recorded the highest growth at 11.99%.
During the first half of the year, over 50% of all foreign visitors (5.4 million) came from Northeast Asia with Chinese being the largest group. Interestingly, despite the ongoing financial crisis and deep recession, Europeans remained the second-largest group with 2.9 million visitors. But the result was mostly boosted by spiralling figures from Russians who are now the top visitors from Europe. The third-largest group (632,976) was from South Asia, of which around 80% were Indians.TAT sets now a target of 22.2 million foreign arrivals in 2013 and total revenues of THB 966 billion (US$ 30.62 billion). In 2011, total revenues reached US$ 25.45 billion.
Meanwhile, the Thailand Film Office also reported increased revenue from foreign film production in Thailand during the first six months with revenues jumping by 26.47% to THB 1.5 billion ( US$ 480 million) compared to the same period of last year. A total of 335 films, more than half of which were advertising, were made in Thailand with Japan and India being the leading countries to use the Kingdom on film location. The Thailand Film Office expects more foreign films to be shot in Thailand until the end of the year bringing the total to 600 movies.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
