Thailand Welcomes 15 Million Foreign Visitors in 7 Months

[snoop1130]

 

BANGKOK (NNT) - The government has announced that Thailand has welcomed 15 million foreign visitors within the first seven months of 2023, citing successful campaigns by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and the government’s attractive policy to international filmmakers.

 

Deputy Government Spokesperson Rachada Dhnadirek said the country received more than 15 million international visitors from January to July of this year. She cited various factors that contributed to the increase in tourist numbers, including summer vacations for schools in other countries and the successful promotion of TAT’s new campaign "Amazing Thailand Health and Wellness: New Chapters, New Experience."

 

Rachada stated that Thailand has also been a popular place for filmmaking this year, with the Department of Tourism’s Thailand Film Office (TFO) reporting that 246 productions from 32 countries used Thailand as a filming location in the first half of 2023. This is due to the government offering incentives for international producers to choose Thailand as their shooting location, such as a 15%-20% cash rebate for those that invest at least 50 million baht while filming in Thailand.

 

According to reports by the Thailand Film Office, the United States invested 519 million baht spent on 14 projects, followed by China with 349 million baht on 17 projects. Hong Kong spent 328 million baht spent on 11 projects, while the United Kingdom spent 261 million baht spent on 19 projects, and Germany with 201 million baht on 11 filmmaking projects.

 

Rachada said that TAT forecasts three trillion baht in tourism revenue next year, with 1.92 trillion baht from overseas travelers and 1.08 trillion baht from domestic tourists. TAT also aims to promote local attractions in all regions in order to distribute income throughout the country.

 

By Krajangwit Johjit

 

Source: https://thainews.prd.go.th/en/news/detail/TCATG230721115840540

 

-- © Copyright NNT 2023-07-21

 

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[stoner]

ummmm

 

 

[StayinThailand2much]

Thanks. I was already wondering, whether tourists had stopped coming, after they had just reported 14.9 million or so just a few days ago...

Edited July 21, 2023 by StayinThailand2much

[Goat]

This will be a predictable thread. 

People with no idea posting that the figures are wrong (how would they know} 

And slagging off all the great work TAT have done over the years in developing Thailand into one of the most popular countries for tourism, creating millions of jobs, dragging millions out of poverty and creating many millionaires.

 

And their great work in recovering quickly after the covid pandemic, leaving other countries in their wake.

[stoner]

1 minute ago, Goat said:

dragging millions out of poverty and creating many millionaires.

 

 

in the last 8 or so years the top 1 percent of thailand has pretty much doubled their wealth.

 

dragging millions out of poverty....are you sure about that ? 

[ikke1959]

It are arrivals and no tourists....That is a difference

[jacko45k]

All those 15,000,000x300 baht charges they missed out on!

[2baht]

I wonder how many of them were Burmese laborers???

[spidermike007]

These numbers are highly fudged. Likely they include all expats going back and forth, all business trips, and all migrant workers. Also, all border runs, etc. 

 

Everyone in the tourism industry says it is alot quieter than 2019. Everyone. So, the economy here still struggles, after the Prayuth Decimation. 

[paul1804]

So what about the recently published statement, 12 million as of June 30, 2023 and now in July we get another 3 million ???

Edited July 22, 2023 by paul1804

[newnative]

7 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

It are arrivals and no tourists....That is a difference

     True, but that's always been the case.  So, 39 million 'arrivals' in 2019.  So far, the benchmark year for tourism in Thailand.  15 million 'arrivals' so far in 2023.   When the counting system hasn't changed, it's easy to see how Thailand is doing compared to its best year of 2019.  2021, it was less than 500,000.  Dismal.   This year, 15 million so far with a little over 5 months to go.  Not 2019 numbers but doing better.

[kinyara]

14 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

These numbers are highly fudged. Likely they include all expats going back and forth, all business trips, and all migrant workers. Also, all border runs, etc. 

 

Everyone in the tourism industry says it is alot quieter than 2019. Everyone. So, the economy here still struggles, after the Prayuth Decimation. 

Correct, there is just over 2 million per month this year compared to just over 3.3 million per month in 2019. Shouldn't be a shock to anyone as this is the level the Tourism Authority expected this year.

 

Number fudging is the siren call of those unable to accept the gradual recovery from ground zero of Thailand's tourism industry, and in reality utter nonsense within the bigger picture of some 70,000 tourists arriving daily.

[kinyara]

14 hours ago, paul1804 said:

So what about the recently published statement, 12 million as of June 30, 2023 and now in July we get another 3 million ???

The official numbers to end of May was 10.7m, I think you'll find when the official numbers to June are released at the end of the month they will be around 13 million.

[paul1804]

On 7/22/2023 at 11:14 PM, kinyara said:

The official numbers to end of May was 10.7m, I think you'll find when the official numbers to June are released at the end of the month they will be around 13 million.

They were already released as 12M as at June 30th

[kinyara]

4 hours ago, paul1804 said:

They were already released as 12M as at June 30th

That is not an official number, the official figures are always released at the end of the following month not at the start. It follows a set calender of Government statistical data released. No idea where that figure came from but as you highlight yourself it doesn't fit in with the 15 million figure mentioned in relation to July and more obviously it would mean only 1.3 million arrived in June which is clealy unlikely given 2 million arriving every month so far.  I'd expect both months will be circa 2 million meaning May YTD - 10.7m, June - circa 12.7m, July circa 14.7m.

[paul1804]

1 hour ago, kinyara said:

That is not an official number, the official figures are always released at the end of the following month not at the start. It follows a set calender of Government statistical data released. No idea where that figure came from but as you highlight yourself it doesn't fit in with the 15 million figure mentioned in relation to July and more obviously it would mean only 1.3 million arrived in June which is clealy unlikely given 2 million arriving every month so far.  I'd expect both months will be circa 2 million meaning May YTD - 10.7m, June - circa 12.7m, July circa 14.7m.

June is low season or have you forgotten, Jan, Feb & March were the highest monthly numbers, last week I read a news clip stating how pleased they were with the 12M as of June 30th. 

[kinyara]

11 minutes ago, paul1804 said:

June is low season or have you forgotten, Jan, Feb & March were the highest monthly numbers, last week I read a news clip stating how pleased they were with the 12M as of June 30th. 

Jan - 2,144,948

Feb - 2,133,550

Mar - 2,219,040

Apr - 2,182,100

May - 2.013,852

 

As you can see unlike in the past April this year was higher and May only 100k lower than the traditional peak months of Jan and Feb, it reflects the recovering situation which as we know is still only 2/3's of the pre-covid peak. I haven't forgotten June is low season and I did say "circa" in recognising the potential drop, I just don't see it going all the way down to 1.3 million in June which is what it would have be if 12 million was correct. That is September 2022 level when the country was only gearing up after lifting all restrictions.

[paul1804]

19 hours ago, kinyara said:

Jan - 2,144,948

Feb - 2,133,550

Mar - 2,219,040

Apr - 2,182,100

May - 2.013,852

 

As you can see unlike in the past April this year was higher and May only 100k lower than the traditional peak months of Jan and Feb, it reflects the recovering situation which as we know is still only 2/3's of the pre-covid peak. I haven't forgotten June is low season and I did say "circa" in recognising the potential drop, I just don't see it going all the way down to 1.3 million in June which is what it would have be if 12 million was correct. That is September 2022 level when the country was only gearing up after lifting all restrictions.

I never published the article so maybe you should ask the publisher. 

[kinyara]

On 7/22/2023 at 2:51 AM, paul1804 said:

So what about the recently published statement, 12 million as of June 30, 2023 and now in July we get another 3 million ???

Maybe you should ask the publisher.

[kinyara]

On 7/22/2023 at 2:51 AM, paul1804 said:

So what about the recently published statement, 12 million as of June 30, 2023 and now in July we get another 3 million ???

Actually just checked and the official figures were actually released on July 21st, as I alluded to in previous posts June YTD arrivals were 12,914,691, so a monthly consistent figure of 2,221,201. A similar level of 2.1 million, not 3 million, expected to achieve the 15 million mentioned in the original post.

 

I think that answers your original question.

[paul1804]

18 hours ago, kinyara said:

Actually just checked and the official figures were actually released on July 21st, as I alluded to in previous posts June YTD arrivals were 12,914,691, so a monthly consistent figure of 2,221,201. A similar level of 2.1 million, not 3 million, expected to achieve the 15 million mentioned in the original post.

 

I think that answers your original question.

I find these figures quite hard to believe to be honest, we had a relatively busy high season where hotels & villas reported good occupancy rates as well as wholesale food & beverage suppliers had good sales. Everyone I have spoken with saw a noticeable decline after Songkran and both reported poor sales in June with a slight upturn in July so these figures claim similar numbers each month. I would have to now believe like many that the figures are fudged! 

[FritsSikkink]

On 7/22/2023 at 8:25 AM, spidermike007 said:

These numbers are highly fudged. Likely they include all expats going back and forth, all business trips, and all migrant workers. Also, all border runs, etc. 

 

Everyone in the tourism industry says it is alot quieter than 2019. Everyone. So, the economy here still struggles, after the Prayuth Decimation. 

Of course it is a lot quieter than in 2019, there were 40 million arrivals then.

[kinyara]

12 hours ago, paul1804 said:

I find these figures quite hard to believe to be honest, we had a relatively busy high season where hotels & villas reported good occupancy rates as well as wholesale food & beverage suppliers had good sales. Everyone I have spoken with saw a noticeable decline after Songkran and both reported poor sales in June with a slight upturn in July so these figures claim similar numbers each month. I would have to now believe like many that the figures are fudged! 

Looking at the country breakdown for June the pattern is very clear, the noticeable month on month increases are from the Asian region, which more than compensate for the low season fall off in Western markets. Unless you hang out at tourist attractions or venues popular with Asian tourists you're unlikely to notice.