Thailand Beats 2022 Tourism Target With 11.15 Million Foreign Arrivals

[webfact]

 

Paphamon Arayasukawat

BANGKOK (NNT) - In 2022, Thailand saw a significant increase in foreign visitors, with a total of 11.15 million people traveling to the kingdom. This was a significant jump from the previous year, when just 428,000 visitors were recorded due to pandemic-related travel restrictions.

 

According to data from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, the figure exceeded the government’s expectations and marks a strong recovery for Thailand’s vital tourism industry, which had been heavily impacted by strict entry and quarantine policies during the pandemic. There were 2.24 million foreign tourists in December alone, compared to 230,497 in the same month the year before.

 

Before the pandemic, Thailand saw a record high of nearly 40 million foreign tourists in 2019. The top three source markets for tourists last year were Malaysia, India, and Singapore.

 

Thailand is aiming to attract 25 million international visitors this year, with a focus on attracting at least five million visitors from China. To support this goal, the government has approved a budget of 3.95 billion baht (120.72 million US dollars) to boost domestic travel and international tourism in secondary cities.

 

The reopening of China is expected to further boost Thailand’s vital tourism sector, which before the pandemic accounted for about 12% of the gross domestic product in Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy.

 

Source: https://thainews.prd.go.th/en/news/detail/TCATG230125114741287

 

-- © Copyright NNT 2023-01-25

 

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[ozz1]

Considering that the place was virtually locked down for a year anything would be a increase anything for some positive publicity

[ourmanflint]

Yes yes, but how many "high quality" tourists they keep going on about?

 

[internationalism]

Those malaysians are not high spenders, as they come rather for weekend cross border shopping spree, than extended holidays. They are not tourists per se. They would come often and boost statistics. 
I would think similarly travellers from singapore come for short trips. 
As to india, they would be slowed by insurance entry requirement and by the pcr pre-departure test on return. Not only 2-4k baht per test, but getting positive means lost airfare and some 7 days additional stay in thailand, and the second test.  That is risky for mass tourists planning only an average 10 days stay. That requirement might last till end of January, but until its abandoned, there would be decrease in numbers. 
Lets see how covid situation in china develops. Still not clear. If prolonged wave and some new variants, thailand might follow suit of some countries and require pre-departure pcr. 
 

Thailand might well see 25mln this year, but certainly needs to streamline immigration lines at BKK. At times both immigration halls are full and waiting time minimum 30 minutes
 

Edited January 25, 2023 by internationalism

[JonnyF]

I'm guessing I'll be accounting for 2 of those arrivals, once when I returned from visiting family in the UK and once when I returned after attending a business meeting in Sydney. 

 

Neither of my "arrivals" was for tourism though.

 

 

 

[ikke1959]

arrivals are not tourists

[nigelforbes]

1 minute ago, ikke1959 said:

arrivals are not tourists

Whether they are or are not is not relevant, they always count the same way so the numbers compare apples with apples.

[newnative]

1 hour ago, nigelforbes said:

Whether they are or are not is not relevant, they always count the same way so the numbers compare apples with apples.

Exactly.

[Farrows3399]

Well Pattaya is absolutely jammed now during daytime as I have been seeing. And seems more crowded now than the  holidays. Also in past February can actually be  more crowded then January.

[ThailandRyan]

Remove the non-tourist Malaysians, Laotions, Burmese, and Cambodians who come for work or to do weekly shopping as they live adjacent to the borders. Then get back to us on the true tourist numbers. Now monetary wise these folks do contribute to the economy.

Edited January 25, 2023 by ThailandRyan

[nigelforbes]

7 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Remove the non-tourist Malaysians, Laotions, Burmese, and Cambodians who come for work or to do weekly shopping as they live adjacent to the borders. Then get back to us on the true tourist numbers. Now monetary wise these folks do contribute to the economy.

Here's the AOT passenger movements reports, you'll find 2021 in there. Perhaps you can check and see how the number look and get back to us with a revised answer..

 

https://www.airportthai.co.th/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/ANNUAL-REPORT-2021.pdf

[ThailandRyan]

3 hours ago, nigelforbes said:

Here's the AOT passenger movements reports, you'll find 2021 in there. Perhaps you can check and see how the number look and get back to us with a revised answer..

 

https://www.airportthai.co.th/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/ANNUAL-REPORT-2021.pdf

Airports are not the only places folks come in through. Show me the border crossings and then let's talk.

[nigelforbes]

52 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Airports are not the only places folks come in through. Show me the border crossings and then let's talk.

Whoosh went the point!

 

The AOT numbers alone will meet the target number put out by TAT, you don't need the border crossing stats. I'm not certain but I don't believe they are even published.

[nigelforbes]

10 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Airports are not the only places folks come in through. Show me the border crossings and then let's talk.

Here ya go TR, because you're my favorite person in the whole world, the number of tourists arriving in Thailand:

 

Linked below is the AOT Air Transport Statistics for 2021 and 2022, click on 2022 and download the report/spreadsheet. Table 6 shows Total Passengers by month and year, embarked, disembarked and transited. The difference between embarked and disembarked, over the longer term, indicates Thai nationals who remained in Thailand hence it might be sensible to use embarked, minus transit to determine the number of people visiting Thailand who might be classed as tourists. The numbers are so close that you may even wish to use Totals because the argument is easily won whichever way you do it.

 

https://investor.airportthai.co.th/transport.html

 

The report only refers to people arriving by air, at AOT airports. If you want to get sensibly close to the true number of tourists you have to factor in the non-AOT airports in Thailand that also handle international flights and these are shown in the link below.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airports_of_Thailand

 

Finally, in respect of total tourist visiting Thailand, one really should include tourists entering by land borders because there will be some. But the number is so hard to determine I decided to exclude them completely from all calculations and do the calculation based on passengers arriving by air only.

 

I’m pretty certain that if you add up those numbers for any given period that you’ll be able to reconcile pretty closely to any TAT published numbers. I think that because that is how TAT arrives at the number of arriving tourists that we see published in the media, despite some people thinking they pull the numbers out of their ar *e. Lastly I will be disappointed if you don’t argue that included in the arrivals numbers are returning expats who aren’t really tourists. Feel free to deduct some percentage of the 250k expats who reside here and adjust the number of arrivals downwards.

[internationalism]

There are also those who entered multiple times within the last year. 
Say businessmen, traders can easily make 5 trips, even long haul intercontinental journeys. 
But there is no way to exclude those trips, even of they are coming on business visa. 
There are also those doing angkor wat short trips and those expats doing border runs by air, say to vietnam, singapore, kuala lumphur (there are no more covid extentions)

[ThailandRyan]

54 minutes ago, internationalism said:

There are also those who entered multiple times within the last year. 
Say businessmen, traders can easily make 5 trips, even long haul intercontinental journeys. 
But there is no way to exclude those trips, even of they are coming on business visa. 
There are also those doing angkor wat short trips and those expats doing border runs by air, say to vietnam, singapore, kuala lumphur (there are no more covid extentions)

I came and went 3 times in 2022 myself and I know a few others who did as well and yet we live here, so there you go Nigel. A friend we drove down to visit in Phuket yesterday comes and goes Monthly based on her job in sales she was in and out 12 times last year, now she is here full time as she list her remote job as the major players are laying off Salesforce staff and creative content folks as well as marketing.  She's loving the fact she can just retire early at 48, has an Elite Visa now....

 

Met a few Russians at breakfast after a walk in Nai Harn today, they are trying to figure out a visa to stay here on as they refuse to be used by Putin. They Indicated they and others entered through Laos.

 

I must confess the numbers have never made sense the way they tabulate all.

Edited January 26, 2023 by ThailandRyan

[metisdead]

Inflammatory posts and the replies have been removed, remember this forum rule:

 

9. You will not post disruptive or inflammatory messages. You will respect other members and post in a civil manner. Personal attacks, insults or hate speech posted on the forum or sent by private message are not allowed.

[nigelforbes]

1 hour ago, ThailandRyan said:

I came and went 3 times in 2022 myself and I know a few others who did as well and yet we live here, so there you go Nigel. A friend we drove down to visit in Phuket yesterday comes and goes Monthly based on her job in sales she was in and out 12 times last year, now she is here full time as she list her remote job as the major players are laying off Salesforce staff and creative content folks as well as marketing.  She's loving the fact she can just retire early at 48, has an Elite Visa now....

 

Met a few Russians at breakfast after a walk in Nai Harn today, they are trying to figure out a visa to stay here on as they refuse to be used by Putin. They Indicated they and others entered through Laos.

 

I must confess the numbers have never made sense the way they tabulate all.

According to at least one thread below, there are some 150,000 expats in Thailand, including 75,000 retirees. Assuming those figures are correct, even three overseas trips per year by every single one of them, would have almost no effect on TAT's tourist arrival figures, nor on the TOT passenger arrival figures for a full and normal tourist year. Over and OUT.

 

 

[BigStar]

2 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

I must confess the numbers have never made sense the way they tabulate all.

TAT: ANF agrees they make perfect sense any time the numbers show a decrease. Amusingly, after sneering at the 40 million 2019 number, they then flipped and embraced it to wring as much mileage as they could from the decrease in 2020, with dire predictions that tourism would never recover to the numbers they'd always dismissed. I love this forum.

[Eric Loh]

56 minutes ago, nigelforbes said:

According to at least one thread below, there are some 150,000 expats in Thailand, including 75,000 retirees. Assuming those figures are correct, even three overseas trips per year by every single one of them, would have almost no effect on TAT's tourist arrival figures, nor on the TOT passenger arrival figures for a full and normal tourist year. Over and OUT.

 

 

Logical extrapolation of the insignificance of long stay foreigners and retirees who hold different type of visa Tourist numbers are tabulated based on tourist visa (TR). This subject has been flogged to death by many here but still whined about. 

[nigelforbes]

12 minutes ago, BigStar said:

TAT: ANF agrees they make perfect sense any time the numbers show a decrease. Amusingly, after sneering at the 40 million 2019 number, they then flipped and embraced it to wring as much mileage as they could from the decrease in 2020, with dire predictions that tourism would never recover to the numbers they'd always dismissed. I love this forum.

I confess to being confused about what you wrote there, perhaps if I read it enough times I will understand...or not. I understand that nobody wants to believe TAT but passenger movement numbers, well, is AOT also not to be believed? And if neither of those two entities are credible, what remains, should we not believe anyone and that everyone is lying? If that's the case, I have to wonder why. I also have to wonder if the problem is not really the numbers but just the way posters like to view all things Thai.

[BigStar]

1 hour ago, nigelforbes said:

I confess to being confused about what you wrote there, perhaps if I read it enough times I will understand...or not. I understand that nobody wants to believe TAT but passenger movement numbers, well, is AOT also not to be believed? And if neither of those two entities are credible, what remains, should we not believe anyone and that everyone is lying? If that's the case, I have to wonder why. I also have to wonder if the problem is not really the numbers but just the way posters like to view all things Thai.

AOT is to be believed, I think. Mastercard Int'l accepts the official numbers. When the numbers are said to be up, they certainly feel up in Pattaya. We've all seen what happened when the "imaginary" millions of tourists stayed away, including the groups our bigots insist don't spend anything.

 

Estimates may of course be more or less accurate. In this case, it seems the reality exceeded the estimates. We hate that.

 

I also have to wonder if the problem is not really the numbers but just the way posters like to view all things Thai.

 

That's exactly what's behind the chorus of sneers whenever the real TAT comes out w/ some numbers. Minds will change totally when it contributes to a negative view.

 

It also applies to TAT's revenue generated numbers. TAT: ANF members ignorantly confuse this with the tourist spend. Dividing the revenue generated by the number of tourists leads to the brilliant conclusion that each tourist couldn't possibly be spending that much! TAT is faking again! ????

 

Another issue is that, as part of the bigotry, TAT: ANF doesn't recognize any non-European tourists. They're really talking only about Europeans, mostly Brits (the great Golden Egg Layers on whom the entire Thai economy depends); and of those mostly mongers who can be seen filling up the beer bars at all times. Not shopping malls, as TAT: ANF members never go in malls and insist they're empty, just laundering money. What tourist would shop in a Thai shopping mall? They have shopping malls back home. We don't apply that argument to the shops in Brighton, however.

 

So, w/o crowded beer bars, there just can't be all those millions of tourists visiting Thailand, irrespective of what anyone says.???? You may rely on TAT: ANF for the real truth about tourism in Thailand.

Edited January 26, 2023 by BigStar

[nigelforbes]

10 minutes ago, BigStar said:

AOT is to be believed, I think. Mastercard Int'l accepts the official numbers. When the numbers are said to be up, they certainly feel up in Pattaya. We've all seen what happened when the "imaginary" millions of tourists stayed away, including the groups our bigots insist don't spend anything.

 

Estimates may of course be more or less accurate. In this case, it seems the reality exceeded the estimates. We hate that.

 

I also have to wonder if the problem is not really the numbers but just the way posters like to view all things Thai.

 

That's exactly what's behind the chorus of sneers whenever the real TAT comes out w/ some numbers. Minds will change totally when it contributes to a negative view.

 

It also applies to TAT's revenue generated numbers. TAT: ANF members ignorantly confuse this with the tourist spend. Dividing the revenue generated by the number of tourists leads to the brilliant conclusion that each tourist couldn't possibly be spending that much! TAT is faking again! ????

 

Another issue is that, as part of the bigotry, TAT: ANF doesn't recognize any non-European tourists. They're really talking only about Europeans, mostly Brits (the great Golden Egg Layers on whom the entire Thai economy depends); and of those mostly mongers who can be seen filling up the beer bars at all times. Not shopping malls, as TAT: ANF members never go in malls and insist they're empty, just laundering money. What tourist would shop in a Thai shopping mall? They have shopping malls back home. We don't apply that argument to the shops in Brighton, however.

 

So, w/o crowded beer bars, there just can't be all those millions of tourists visiting Thailand, irrespective of what anyone says.???? You may rely on TAT: ANF for the real truth about tourism in Thailand.

Thanks, I was confident there must be a sane poster somewhere.