Popular Post webfact Posted Thursday at 08:23 PM Popular Post Share Posted Thursday at 08:23 PM Picture courtesy: MGR online In the first half of 2024, Thailand's six international airports, under the management of Airports of Thailand (AOT), saw a significant increase in passenger traffic. Transport Minister Suriya Juangroongruangkit reported an impressive 52.16 million travelers, reflecting a 20.28% rise compared to the same period in the previous year. AOT oversees six key airports: Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang, Chiang Mai, Mae Fah Luang, Phuket, and Hat Yai, which together handle 95% of Thailand's domestic and international flights. Speaking at AOT’s 45th-anniversary celebration at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre, Suriya highlighted that 32.05 million of these passengers were international arrivals, mainly from Asia, Europe, and the United States. These tourists contribute approximately 2.3 trillion baht annually to Thailand’s tourism industry, accounting for about 70% of the national expenditure budget. Suriya, who also serves as Deputy Prime Minister, emphasized the collaborative efforts of AOT and the Ministry of Transport to position Thailand as a global aviation hub. This objective is part of the government's Ignite Thailand initiative, launched in February, which aims to transform the country into a center for tourism, medical care, food, aviation, logistics, electric vehicles, the digital economy, and finance by 2030. The initiative prioritizes infrastructure investment and promotional campaigns to attract both tourists and business travelers, with the aim of propelling Thailand to the 8th spot among the world's top tourist destinations. The ministry has set ambitious goals to rank Thai airports among the top 20 globally within five years. Currently, Suvarnabhumi Airport is ranked 58th worldwide, while Don Mueang is recognized as one of the top 10 best low-cost airports. AOT CEO Kirati Kitmanawat attributed the increase in international arrivals to the rapid recovery of the global tourism industry post-pandemic and the visa-free policy for visitors from China, Kazakhstan, India, and Taiwan. From October 2023 to May 2024, AOT reported a remarkable 81.05 million passengers, reaching 83.4% of pre-pandemic levels. Of these, 48.95 million were international travelers, and 32.09 million were domestic passengers. Kirati also noted a significant revenue boost, with AOT earning 33.94 billion baht from September 2023 to March 2024, a 71% year-on-year increase, and expressed optimism for continued growth in the latter half of the year. -- 2024-07-05 Get our Daily Newsletter - Click HERE to subscribe 2 1 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Georgealbert Posted Thursday at 09:52 PM Popular Post Share Posted Thursday at 09:52 PM (edited) This is just the beginning, from AOT, reported by The Thai Enquirer. The Airports of Thailand (AOT) currently plan to expand existing airports and build new ones, including: Suvarnabhumi Airport, East Expansion Project: Budget: 12.5 billion baht Area Increase: 81,000 sqm Additional Passengers: 15 million Tender Planned: November this year Suvarnabhumi Airport South Expansion Project: Budget: 120 billion baht Additional Passengers: 60 million annually Facilities Expansion: 512,000 sqm Planning Phase: 2024-2025 Design: 2025-2026 Tender Opening: 2027 Runway 3: Operations Start: September 2024 2025 Flights: 75, Revenue: 4.7 billion baht 2026 Flights: 85, Revenue: 8.6 billion baht 2027 Flights: 94, Revenue: 9.1 billion baht Suvarnabhumi Airport West Expansion Project: - Satellite 2 Terminal Construction - Runway 4 Construction Once completed, Suvarnabhumi is expected to handle around 150 million passengers per year, with a capacity for approximately 120 flights per hour. Don Mueang Airport (DMK): - Phase 3 Development Budget: 36 billion baht - Capacity Increase: 30 to 40 million passengers annually, including: New international terminal, Terminal 3 (166,000 sqm) for 18 million international passengers annually - Upgraded domestic terminals, Terminal 1 and 2 (210,800 sqm) for 22 million passengers annually - Project Phase: Design ongoing - Construction: 2025-2030 - Plan to build a Private Jet Terminal: 21,000 sqm New Airports: - Phang Nga (Andaman): 22.5 million passengers, Budget: 80 billion baht, Completion: 2031 - New Chiang Mai Airport (Lan Chang): 24 million passengers, Budget: 70 billion baht, Completion: 2031 Other Upgrades: - Phuket Airport Phase 2: expand capacity to 18 million passengers, Budget: 6.2 billion baht, Completion: 2029 - Chiang Mai Airport: expand capacity to 20 million passengers, Budget: 15 billion baht, Completion: 2026 - Udon Thani Airport: expand capacity to 6.5 million passengers, Budget: 3.5 billion baht - Buriram Airport: expand capacity to 2.8 million passengers, Budget: 460 million baht - Krabi Airport: expand capacity to 12 million passengers, Budget: 6.5 billion baht Edited Thursday at 09:54 PM by Georgealbert 3 2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sumongkhwai Posted Thursday at 10:45 PM Share Posted Thursday at 10:45 PM I'm going to have to change my schedule then. Always took the red eye out of LAX at 1:30 am, 2 hour layover in Taipei and the brother-in-law picked us up at BKK at 10:30 am. Really helped with jet lag, leaving at night sleeping along the way and get there in the morning. But now, it seems like all these flights come in the morning so immigration is packed. I'm happy to come in at night and hire a private van to take us to our house but, it messes with my jet lag plan, oh well. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post hotchilli Posted Thursday at 10:49 PM Popular Post Share Posted Thursday at 10:49 PM So the tourism business is booming.... shame manufacturing is sliding. Thailand has nothing else to offer except it's daughters. 1 1 1 2 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobydog Posted Friday at 12:19 AM Share Posted Friday at 12:19 AM Is that all Arrivals or does it include departures as well. Lol 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post bradiston Posted Friday at 12:19 AM Popular Post Share Posted Friday at 12:19 AM (edited) 1 hour ago, hotchilli said: So the tourism business is booming.... shame manufacturing is sliding. Thailand has nothing else to offer except it's daughters. Yes, the rub a dub hub. But 150m? 😳🤯 Twice the Thai population! Edited Friday at 12:22 AM by bradiston 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post nobodysfriend Posted Friday at 12:34 AM Popular Post Share Posted Friday at 12:34 AM 4 hours ago, webfact said: Transport Minister Suriya Juangroongruangkit reported an impressive 52.16 million travelers All quality tourists . 4 hours ago, webfact said: the government's Ignite Thailand initiative, launched in February, which aims to transform the country into a center for tourism, medical care, food, aviation, logistics, electric vehicles, the digital economy, and finance by 2030. Sure . Transform the country ... dear government , transform yourself first to show the world that Thailand has a functioning democracy with elected leaders and REALISTC plans for a sustainable future . Money is NOT everything . 1 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Paul Henry Posted Friday at 12:46 AM Popular Post Share Posted Friday at 12:46 AM 50 millon arrivals, 30 million tourists who are the other 20 million.Returning citizens,business people, in transit? TAT is managed by dreamers and fantasy lovers. What about some good hard data? 3 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradiston Posted Friday at 12:48 AM Share Posted Friday at 12:48 AM 1 minute ago, Paul Henry said: 50 millon arrivals, 30 million tourists who are the other 20 million.Returning citizens,business people, in transit? TAT is managed by dreamers and fantasy lovers. What about some good hard data? Probably domestic passengers. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ikke1959 Posted Friday at 12:50 AM Popular Post Share Posted Friday at 12:50 AM passengers are no tourists..... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post lavender19 Posted Friday at 12:50 AM Popular Post Share Posted Friday at 12:50 AM They are probably counting the 55 family members seeing their mother off on a domestic flight 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john donson Posted Friday at 01:40 AM Share Posted Friday at 01:40 AM so they pad themselves on the back because more people visit TH ? and give them a big pay raise? why not ask 1000 baht more on entrance for absolutely nothing in return 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandyf Posted Friday at 01:45 AM Share Posted Friday at 01:45 AM 1 hour ago, nobodysfriend said: All quality tourists . Sure . Transform the country ... dear government , transform yourself first to show the world that Thailand has a functioning democracy with elected leaders and REALISTC plans for a sustainable future . Money is NOT everything . Why do some nations believe they have the right to tell other nations how to run their country. How realistic is it that the contest for the world's top job is between a geriatric and the mentally challenged? 5 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandyf Posted Friday at 01:57 AM Share Posted Friday at 01:57 AM 1 hour ago, ikke1959 said: passengers are no tourists..... Where in the thread title does it say tourists? Are you saying only tourists are entitled to improvements, not passengers. People whinge about airport queues and delays, then whinge about improvements, unbelievable. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post DPKANKAN Posted Friday at 01:58 AM Popular Post Share Posted Friday at 01:58 AM 1 hour ago, Bobydog said: Is that all Arrivals or does it include departures as well. Lol It probably includes all those 20,000,000 travelling via Bangkok on a 1 - 2 hour stopover too!!!!5555😉😉😉😉 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul1804 Posted Friday at 02:33 AM Share Posted Friday at 02:33 AM 1 hour ago, bradiston said: Probably domestic passengers. Of these, 48.95 million were international travelers, and 32.09 million were domestic passengers. Total 81m arrivals! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kuzmabruk Posted Friday at 02:56 AM Share Posted Friday at 02:56 AM 18 minutes ago, paul1804 said: Of these, 48.95 million were international travelers, and 32.09 million were domestic passengers. Total 81m arrivals! Anybody bored and able to do the math? in 2019 (pre-covid) the number of international arrivals in the YEAR was 39 million. 48.95 for 6-months would equate to 97.9 million in the year. That is more than 20%, using my mental calculator. Thailand is now #1 Top 10 Most Visited Countries in the World (All Time) France. France tops the list with 89.4 million arrivals. ... Spain. Spain rose to second place with 83.7 million arrivals. ... United States. ... China. ... Italy. ... Turkey. ... Mexico. ... Thailand. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post cracker1 Posted Friday at 03:30 AM Popular Post Share Posted Friday at 03:30 AM I would be most interested to know how these figures were compiled : "These tourists contribute approximately 2.3 trillion baht annually to Thailand’s tourism industry, accounting for about 70% of the national expenditure budget. I have lived here more than 20 years and crossed the borders more than 100 times, and never been asked how much I spend ! 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sydebolle Posted Friday at 03:36 AM Share Posted Friday at 03:36 AM As far as extensions and/or new constructions are concerned; keep an eye on projects handled in the past and learn from them: Korat/Nakorn Ratchasima - new airport with zero flights; going back to the old Air Force base between the zoo and much closer to town Betong - two airports = zero flights Chiang Rai - an absolutely unnecessary new airport was built to replace the (meanwhile empty) old airport Phrae - no flights Pai - no flights and that's how the list goes on. Just keep in mind, that these airports costs billions of Baht and serve not only passengers. Maybe they should have a word with privately owned airlines; they - after all - will have to handle the traffic. A pristine example was Prayuth's push for a new airport in Betong (border to Malaysia) by arm-twisting Nok Air. They started to fly and once they realized that they could not even generate the ground handling fees with their revenues they ........ stopped silently again. Nobody ever complained as the 15 minutes of fame were over 😉 Same with Chatichai Choonhavan's Indochina aviation hub in Korat; what an absolute joke ...... 1 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryviking Posted Friday at 04:05 AM Share Posted Friday at 04:05 AM I wonder when the Thai population will start to protest the number of "tourists" like they do in parts of Europe! 😆 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryviking Posted Friday at 04:07 AM Share Posted Friday at 04:07 AM 5 hours ago, hotchilli said: So the tourism business is booming.... shame manufacturing is sliding. Thailand has nothing else to offer except it's daughters. ....and they have a lot! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankie baby Posted Friday at 04:08 AM Share Posted Friday at 04:08 AM (edited) Great figures, but where are they, everywheres empty. Somewhere between exiting immigration & transporting to the city, they must turn invisible. Edited Friday at 04:13 AM by Frankie baby 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunjeff Posted Friday at 04:18 AM Share Posted Friday at 04:18 AM 1 hour ago, paul1804 said: Of these, 48.95 million were international travelers, and 32.09 million were domestic passengers. Total 81m arrivals! The numbers in the article are obviously wrong, though it's unclear whether the speakers gave bad data or (more likely) the statistics were reported incorrectly. - This is (yet another) celebration of the glories of AOT, so the headline number actually represents passengers handled, including arrivals, departures, and transit passengers. This is of interest to the company, but has only an indirect relationship to international tourist arrivals. - The alleged statement that "32.05 million of these passengers were international arrivals" is obviously wrong, and is probably misreporting some different statement - though who knows. - The line that "48.95 million were international travelers, and 32.09 million were domestic passengers" is again referring to total passenger movements, and appears to be referring to the type of flight they were on, not their nationality. - It's irritating that we consistently see figures for AOT airports and DOA airports reported separately, but usually vaguely referred to as statistics for "Thailand". Company metrics and national ones are not the same, even though the great majority of passengers are handled by AOT. - If AOT spent half as much time actually improving the airports under its control as it does promoting itself, Suvarnabhumi wouldn't have fallen so far in world rankings. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigStar Posted Friday at 05:00 AM Share Posted Friday at 05:00 AM 1 hour ago, cracker1 said: I have lived here more than 20 years and crossed the borders more than 100 times, and never been asked how much I spend ! Like most of our Economists, you've confused spending with revenue generated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hotchilli Posted Friday at 05:45 AM Share Posted Friday at 05:45 AM 1 hour ago, harryviking said: ....and they have a lot! Just as-well 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JensenZ Posted Friday at 07:12 AM Share Posted Friday at 07:12 AM 8 hours ago, hotchilli said: So the tourism business is booming.... shame manufacturing is sliding. Thailand has nothing else to offer except it's daughters. An absurd, ignorant comment. I suppose what else would you expect from an ape. Just the climate, beaches and the low cost of everything is more than enough to get tourists here. Thai hospitality is also a big factor, and well ahead of all its SE Asian neighbours. The sex industry is struggling, yet tourists are arriving in record numbers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazykopite Posted Friday at 07:44 AM Share Posted Friday at 07:44 AM How many were getting connecting flights to other countries Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hotchilli Posted Friday at 07:56 AM Share Posted Friday at 07:56 AM 42 minutes ago, JensenZ said: An absurd, ignorant comment. I suppose what else would you expect from an ape. Easy with the personal comments... I'm allowed to share my view without being personally attacked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandyf Posted Friday at 08:12 AM Share Posted Friday at 08:12 AM 3 hours ago, khunjeff said: The numbers in the article are obviously wrong, though it's unclear whether the speakers gave bad data or (more likely) the statistics were reported incorrectly. - This is (yet another) celebration of the glories of AOT, so the headline number actually represents passengers handled, including arrivals, departures, and transit passengers. This is of interest to the company, but has only an indirect relationship to international tourist arrivals. - The alleged statement that "32.05 million of these passengers were international arrivals" is obviously wrong, and is probably misreporting some different statement - though who knows. - The line that "48.95 million were international travelers, and 32.09 million were domestic passengers" is again referring to total passenger movements, and appears to be referring to the type of flight they were on, not their nationality. - It's irritating that we consistently see figures for AOT airports and DOA airports reported separately, but usually vaguely referred to as statistics for "Thailand". Company metrics and national ones are not the same, even though the great majority of passengers are handled by AOT. - If AOT spent half as much time actually improving the airports under its control as it does promoting itself, Suvarnabhumi wouldn't have fallen so far in world rankings. I fail to understand why people feel compelled to start some sort of analysis on everything that gets said. It is all very simple, there is either adequate capacity at the airports or there isn't. If people feel the existing capacity is more than adequate, just say so, the numbers are quite irrelevant. It may come as a surprise to some but passengers do not arrive uniformly, the key is being able to deal with a fluctuating flow. When they created the Eurostar facility at St Pancras in London, future capacity was grossly under estimated and departure is now a horrendous experience. Obviously many would like to see Thailand take a leaf out of the Eurostar planning manual, would certainly provide future capacity for whinging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reddavy Posted Friday at 08:36 AM Share Posted Friday at 08:36 AM 1 hour ago, JensenZ said: An absurd, ignorant comment. I suppose what else would you expect from an ape. Just the climate, beaches and the low cost of everything is more than enough to get tourists here. Thai hospitality is also a big factor, and well ahead of all its SE Asian neighbours. The sex industry is struggling, yet tourists are arriving in record numbers. The sex industry is struggling🤣🤣 Tell that to the bar owners in soi 6/7 and soi buakhao Pattaya 🤣🤣 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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