Thailand's December foreign tourist arrivals up 2.48% year-on-year - ministry

 

FILE PHOTO: Long-tail boats with tourists are seen in a beach in Koh Poda island near Krabi, Thailand October 22, 2019. REUTERS/Jorge Silva

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Tourist arrivals in Thailand rose 2.48% in December from a year earlier, following an increase of 5.92% the previous month, the tourism ministry said in a statement on Friday.

 

A total of 3.93 million tourists in December spent about 193 billion baht ($6.35 billion), down 2.25% from a year earlier.

 

In 2019, the number of foreign tourists rose 4.24% to a record 39.8 million, and their spending was about 1.93 trillion baht.

 

Tourism is a key driver of Thai growth, with foreign tourist receipts accounting for about 12% of gross domestic product.

 

(Reporting by Orathai Sriring; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-01-24

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48 minutes ago, webfact said:

In 2019, the number of foreign tourists rose 4.24%

It's in line with the 4.5% increase in international arrivals. Where are they going though ? According to many TV posters koh samui, pukhet and pattaya are half empty

Page 152: https://corporate.airportthai.co.th/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/AnnualReport2019en.pdf

2 hours ago, yokat said:

It's in line with the 4.5% increase in international arrivals. Where are they going though ? According to many TV posters koh samui, pukhet and pattaya are half empty

Page 152: https://corporate.airportthai.co.th/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/AnnualReport2019en.pdf

There all at The Grand Palace in Bangkok, will never go there again,  very dissapointed couldn't even take a picture 

The spokesman who made this statement, did so while furiously trying to remove his pants... which were on fire.

Thailand's 2019 foreign tourists up 4%; China virus, strong baht a risk

By Orathai Sriring

 

FILE PHOTO: Long-tail boats with tourists are seen in a beach in Koh Poda island near Krabi, Thailand October 22, 2019. REUTERS/Jorge Silva

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand saw slower growth of foreign tourist arrivals of 4.2% last year and the outlook for a lucrative industry is weighed by strength in the baht and China's new coronavirus at a time of faltering economic growth.

 

Tourist receipts account for about 12 percent of Southeast Asia's second-largest economy, making it one of the most important drivers of growth for an economy that has lagged most regional peers for years.

 

Foreign tourist arrivals hit a record 39.8 million last year - equivalent to more than half of Thailand's population - after a rise of 7% to 38.2 million in 2018, when a boat accident killed dozens of Chinese tourists, tourism ministry data showed.

 

Tourist revenue had risen 3% to 1.93 trillion baht ($63.49 billion) in 2019.

 

Visitors from China, Thailand's biggest source of tourists, increased by 4.4% to 10.99 million in 2019.

 

The growth in foreign arrivals had slowed and missed a government target, and industry operators have blamed that on the strong baht, Asia's top performer last year.

 

The baht <THB=TH> rose nearly 9% against the U.S. dollar and about 11% against China's yuan <CNHTHB=R> last year.

 

Graphic: Thailand's overall foreign tourists and Chinese arrivals -

 

The Tourism Council of Thailand last week forecast less than 5% growth in overall foreign tourist numbers this year.

 

Kasikorn Research Centre on Friday predicted the number of Chinese tourists may fall 0.5%-2.0% this year, rather than the 1.6%-3.5% increase projected earlier.

 

China's coronavirus has added to the concerns. Thailand on Friday confirmed its fifth case of the virus and Saturday's start of the Lunar New Year holiday is expected to bring an influx of Chinese travellers. [L4N29T1K5]

 

"The outbreak of coronavirus is a risk. The strong Thai baht may also affect tourism growth," said Tim Leelahaphan, economist of Standard Chartered.

 

"That is unlikely to help an already-slowing economy," he said adding he expected the central bank to cut its policy rate by a quarter point in the first quarter.

 

The Bank of Thailand (BOT) cut the key rate twice in 2019, taking it to a record low of 1.25%. It will next review monetary policy on Feb. 5.

 

The BOT forecast economic growth of 2.8% this year, slightly picking up from an estimated 2.5% in 2019, a 5-year low.

 

(Reporting by Orathai Sriring; Editing by Alex Richardson)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-01-25

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When will they stop all this fake news......LOL

Yes, yes, of course they are................and the earth is flat, the moon is made of cheese,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

13 hours ago, lupin said:

The spokesman who made this statement, did so while furiously trying to remove his pants... which were on fire.

Just about he best post I have ever read ????

You believe it???

It was up in December due to Christmas and New Year holidays. After this it is going to be very quiet, eerie quiet!

Didn't they just say last week that tourism was down 28%?

Just now, Mace648 said:

Didn't they just say last week that tourism was down 28%?

That was just temporary, for year on year. The new BS is the one to be believed.

19 minutes ago, Thunder26 said:

It was up in December due to Christmas and New Year holidays. After this it is going to be very quiet, eerie quiet!

The quoted number compares the same period in the year ago. Do you understand that there was also Christimas und New Year holidays a year ago?

The mystery remains unsolved, where the hell are all these tourists????

If there is any good in something like a dreaded coronavirus, the good would be that TAT now has a new scapegoat !

Yep, it's good news day for tourism - there's an S in Saturday, expect more good news Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Fake bad news will be published on Monday and Friday.

Ah, this old chestnut. ????

Maybe one day they will put the decimal point in the correct place !!

????????????????????????????????????????????

36 minutes ago, Mace648 said:

Didn't they just say last week that tourism was down 28%?

Math is hard. Let's just go shopping,

Are the inflation figures also up at the ministry I suspect they are????

All arrivals at all airports that are not Thai citizens 

12 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

Yep, it's good news day for tourism - there's an S in Saturday, expect more good news Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Fake bad news will be published on Monday and Friday.

Thailand has Sabai day 5 times a week.  Monday and Friday are problematical, but nobody does anything productive on those days.

If you keep on telling the same Lie over and over.  You eventually believe it yourself.

14 hours ago, flexomike said:

There all at The Grand Palace in Bangkok, will never go there again,  very dissapointed couldn't even take a picture 

You got that right.  9 years ago, I visited Grand Palace with my then Thai fiancée.  We took picture after picture—with just us—no tourists in the background.  Last year we revisited the Palace, and took the same scene pictures.  Yes, we were 8 years older, but we had hundreds of Chinese tourists clogging up the background.

They should set aside one or two days per week—solely for Thai people (and spouses). 

18 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand's December foreign tourist arrivals up 2.48% year-on-year - ministry

Yeh. Right!!

17 minutes ago, ronaldo0 said:

Maybe one day they will put the decimal point in the correct place !!

????????????????????????????????????????????

A billion here, a trillion there, what's the diff? 

17 hours ago, yokat said:

It's in line with the 4.5% increase in international arrivals. Where are they going though ? According to many TV posters koh samui, pukhet and pattaya are half empty

Page 152: https://corporate.airportthai.co.th/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/AnnualReport2019en.pdf

'Where are they going?'...why of course they’re visiting TAT officials bathing in that famous river in Egypt - they’re in de Nile.

1 hour ago, Mace648 said:

Didn't they just say last week that tourism was down 28%?

Yeah, that was from the people on the ground, the ministry have a different view on things!

AND THE BAND PLAYED BELIEVE IT IF YOU LIKE 

18 hours ago, webfact said:

Tourist arrivals in Thailand rose 2.48% in December from a year earlier

 

18 hours ago, webfact said:

tourists in December spent about 193 billion baht ($6.35 billion), down 2.25% from a year earlier

So more tourists spent less money? That'll be the Indians I expect.

18 hours ago, webfact said:

foreign tourist receipts accounting for about 12% of gross domestic product

But it used to be somewhere between 18% - 20%