In a bid to breathe contemporary life into the Thai tourism sector in 2024, The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) aims to attract an impressive tally of 25.eight million tourists. The focus is on visitors from geographically proximate Asian and South Pacific international locations categorised as short-haul markets, shared Thanet Petchsuwan, TAT Deputy Governor. This quota varieties a vital portion, 74% to be precise, of the bigger image which is to welcome 35 million worldwide globetrotters subsequent yr.
Thanet said…
“The income goal we’re looking at through this strategy is roughly 1.2 trillion baht, which is about 63% of the grand aim of pooling 1.92 trillion baht from international markets.”
The specifics of the short-haul Thai tourism market goals embody 12.48 million guests from Eastern Asia, 10.51 million from ASEAN international locations, 2.1 million from South Asia, and 787,000 from Oceania.
However, making inroads in the Chinese market continues to be a considerable hurdle, mentioned Thanet.
“Despite some constructive upticks in Chinese vacationer influx this 12 months, it’s too soon to predict whether we shall be profitable in hitting our goal of 5 million vacationers. Especially when you consider that only 1.44 million Chinese vacationers arrived in Thailand within the first half of this yr.”
Siripakorn Cheawsamoot, TAT Deputy Governor for Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Americas, shared insights relating to TAT’s objectives with respect to long-haul markets like Europe and the US.
“Our goal for 2024 is to draw 9.2 million vacationers from these territories, making up 26% of the entire international vacationer goal.
“In terms of revenue, however, we envisage these markets to contribute a commendable 37% equating to around 721 billion baht.”
This estimation relies on the common keep durations of tourists from these regions. The Europeans, for instance, tend to trip for a median of 19 days, spending around seventy one,718 baht per tour.
Figures from Central and South American vacationers are also encouraging with an average expenditure of ninety nine,172 baht across a sixteen.17 days visit. American tourists, with an expenditure of around seventy six,297 baht have a mean keep duration of 15.26 days, giving a lift to the Thai tourism trade.
Cash noted that the statistics for the long-haul Thai tourism market exceeded expectations in 2023. TAT had set the bar at 7 million tourists, only to have 8 million tourists grace Thai shores. The Russian market posed an fascinating revelation. He said…
“Our targets for Russian vacationers were set at 1 million for the entire yr, however within the first six months itself, we had been nearing the goalpost with 789,000 Russian tourists exploring the Thai realms.”