Thailand expects 1.5 million foreign tourists before year end

[webfact]

Thailand expects 1.5 million foreign tourists before year end

 

FILE PHOTO: Empty chairs are seen on a beach, which is usually full of tourists, amid fears of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Pattaya, Thailand, March 27, 2020. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

 

In its latest forecast, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) said it expects approximately 1.5 million foreign tourists to visit Thailand before the end of the year.

 

According to TAT governor Yuthasak Supasorn, 6.7 million international tourists visited Thailand in the first five months of the year, before the country was closed to visitors from overseas due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

 

But as the country is beginning to ease travel restrictions, including a partial lifting on the ban of overseas visitors, Mr Yuthasak said that he expects a total of 8.2 million foreign tourists to visit Thailand in 2020.

 

"We adjusted our forecast for foreign arrivals this year to 8.2 million from 10-12 million," Yuthasak said.

 

Last week, Thailand announced a slight easing of restrictions on foreign visitors, namely so-called ‘medical tourists’ who are visiting Thailand to undergo medical treatment. 

 

This group, which are amongst the first foreigners to visit Thailand in a tourist capacity in more than three months, need a certificate from their home country to confirm they are not infected with COVID-19, as well as meeting a selection of other criteria in order to be allowed entry to Thailand.

 

The news comes after it was revealed on Wednesday that Thailand has been forced to delay plans to create ‘travel bubbles’ with foreign countries.

 

Thailand initially wanted to create safe travel corridors with a number of other countries in order to kick-start international tourism in the aftermath of COVID-19.

 

Countries such as New Zealand, Australia, South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong had been mooted as being included in the so called ‘travel bubbles’, which had initially been intended to begin in September. 

 

However, a resurgence of COVID-19 cases in some of those countries has forced the Thai authorities to delay the travel bubble plans indefinitely. 

 

The delay has resulted in TAT downgrading its forecast on tourists arrivals for 2020 from between 10 and 12 million to 8.2 million.

 

Reuters contributed to this report

 

Source: Daily News

 

 

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[rkidlad]

1 minute ago, webfact said:

Thailand expects 1.5 million foreign tourists before year end

Everyone knows you round up from 5. Schoolboy error, TAT. 

[ExpatOilWorker]

TAT have downgraded their forecast from 15 million to 12 million, then 10 million and now 8.2 million.

Let's call it 6.7 million and talk again next year.

[Thaiwrath]

19 minutes ago, webfact said:

In its latest forecast, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) said it expects approximately 1.5 million foreign tourists to visit Thailand before the end of the year.

 

Again, coming up with numbers with no logic whatsoever !

 

Edited July 9, 2020 by Thaiwrath

[madmitch]

Unless they ease off on quarantine, insurance and prior COVID test I can't see then getting 1.5 million foreign tourists by the end of 2021.

[ezzra]

Some time you wonder if the left hand in this country knows what the right hand is doing, when you hear contradicting statements everyday you begin to think is there anyone there that control theses statements of each to his own?...

[Grumpy John]

555! Let me repeat that.  ????????????! Laughter is the best medicine....and the government clown bureau never fail to give me a giggle at least.   Why they cannot make an honest factual non-disputable statement is beyond me,  like "We estimate the number of people entering Thailand in 2020 will be greatly reduced from 2019".  Not waffle on something different from one week to the next.  

[smedly]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand (TAT) said it expects approximately 1.5 million foreign tourists to visit Thailand before the end of the year.

only a slight reduction from 20 million

[Misterwhisper]

Actually, Mr. Yuthasak is dead wrong with his 1.5 million figure.

 

After strenuous research and meticulous analysis deploying carefully developed parameters plus my unfailing crystal ball I have determined that the number of foreign tourists visiting Thailand until the end of the year will be exactly 1,369,281.

 

Around nine tenths of them are of course going to be day trippers from Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Malaysia doing some shopping across the border in Thailand, so I'm not certain if they necessarily should be counted as "foreign tourists" at all. 

[Buba Ho Tep]

Someone take the pipe away from the TAT.  The return of tourism before mandatory Covid vaccinations is a pipe-dream.  Gonna have to wait for 'immunity passports' before tourism ever returns to anywhere near as before, and then it probably will never return to pre-2020 levels as the restrictions on entry will be 'over-the-top' and those who use to travel internationally will opt for domestic tourism in their own countries.  The "new-normal" is not the old-normal which will never return.  Thailand may want to press onward with different industries than tourism (which the government has effectively driven a stake through heart of that industry) such as growing cannabis as a cash crop. 

[86Tiger]

Clown show is totally inadequate to describe the daily press releases.

 

 

But it is all I got.

[uli65]

I guess mandatory Covid vaccinations are a pipe dream, are you working for dirty Billy

[mike787]

NO way!  

[newcomer71]

How in the heavens they can expect any tourist if the made it almost impossible to turn back even for expats. 

As usual they live in an alternative reality.

[RichardColeman]

All very well talking about 1.5 million tourists , but how many of them will be border crossing workers counted endless times and exactly how many of the say 25% of the tourism based workforce will this actually feed and save from destitution ?

[brucegoniners]

I don't know what these guys are smoking, but that's just not going to happen. Remove a zero maybe.

[Maejo Man]

Not quite sure how this is going to happen as most countries don't plan to have airlines running till early next year!????

[LEKPHUKET]

No one like to visit Thailand with the insane measures in place,  countries around are laughing with Thailand. 

Bali opens in September ....

[crazykopite]

The truth is that very few tourists will visit this year I would be surprised if it got to one million . Unless the government change the $100.000 scheme the health certificate to fly and the 14 days quarantine I think they can kiss goodbye to Tourism for 2020.

[Paiman]

TAT might expand to mental tourists, just to keep them company and join the trip to Happiness.

[hansnl]

1 hour ago, smedly said:

only a slight reduction from 20 million

Expect, or is it hope for

[Brunolem]

1.5 million tourists during the second half of the year...seems very unlikely...

 

One can't imagine that so many North Koreans will have the means to afford such a trip, despite having been entirely spared by the virus...

[upena]

TAT counts arrivals. Don't confuse arrivals with tourists or visitors.

[klauskunkel]

The optimist says:

As long as they spend 100,000 baht per day, Thailand should be OK!

[happyinthailand]

1.5 million tourists is about 10,000 (or 50 aircraft per day)!  Given all the rules, this looks a little optimistic. 

[cheapcanuck]

Wishful thinking to get above 8 million visitors. There are just to many road blocks on traveling. Thailand has their three rather significant road blocks a traveller would have to overcome. The travellers home country would have X amount of days of quarantine that they would have to endure.

Edited July 9, 2020 by cheapcanuck

[RICO86]

Thailand hotels restaurants nightlife business can rejoice!!!????

[MadMac]

Ok, bit late but never too late for the party TAT. You guys shoud be the first and foremost to be fired if there is ever anything to be better to be implemented in this country.

[Lacessit]

Someone obviously hasn't told the TAT the number of international flights coming into Thailand won't carry 1.5 million people. Perhaps they are hoping Chinese buses will fill the void. But isn't that where all this s##t started?

[MadMac]

What kept you out in the cold so long TAT? Inactive posts looming? ????