Thailand’s tourism industry was nearly destroyed by the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the country managed to welcome 10 million foreign visitors this year. This signals a good recovery of their tourism industry and is unlike anything that was forecasted. The 10 million visitors from overseas are a drastic difference from the fewer than half a million overseas travellers in 2021.
Foreign tourists are forecast to spend more than 500 billion baht by the end of 2022, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand. Tourism is a key driver of Thailand’s economy, which is the second-largest in Southeast Asia.
Higher levels of consumer confidence have been seen in six straight months during November, and tourism numbers are largely to thank for the general improvement. Thailand is expecting the momentum to continue in 2023, with a target of 20 million overseas arrivals and 1.5 trillion baht in foreign tourist receipts. This can make the country halfway towards the number of visitors from overseas before the pandemic when there were over a million people coming through. Tourism and earnings would be at 80 per cent from what they were back then.
