Thailand emerges as the top destination for international tourists in the ASEAN region, as revealed by Sudawan Wangsuphakitgosol, the Minister of Tourism and Sports, during the 27th ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF 2024) in Vientiane, Lao People’s Democratic Republic.

 

The forum’s theme, Quality and Responsible Tourism – Sustaining ASEAN Future, reflected a collective intent among ASEAN tourism ministers to restore and promote responsible and sustainable tourism that enhances the competitiveness and development of the region’s tourism sector.

 

The figures presented at the meeting highlighted a significant rise in ASEAN’s international tourist arrivals by 153% in 2023 compared to the previous year. The success is attributed to two marketing campaigns, imaginASEAN and the ASEAN Tourism Recovery Campaign, which drew a staggering 2.5 billion participants globally.

 

In the ASEAN region, Thailand led the pack in 2023 with an impressive count of 28.09 million foreign visitors, marking an increase of 153.94% from the 11.06 million recorded the previous year. Vietnam followed with 12.06 million international tourists, a substantial increase of 344.2% from the 3.66 million the year before.

 

by Samantha Rose

Picture courtesy of Hanny Naibaho, Unsplash

 

Full story: The Thaiger 2024-01-29

 

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yada, yada, yada.....

One way to spin it, but wasn't their goal more like 35 million?

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand emerges as the top destination for international tourists in the ASEAN region, as revealed by Sudawan Wangsuphakitgosol, the Minister of Tourism and Sports