Kerajaan Thailand berterima kasih kepada pelancong dari Malaysia dan India kerana kemasukan mereka ke negara ini menyaksikan Thailand semakin hampir melepasi sasaran kemasukan 10 juta pelancong menjelang hujung tahun 2022.
Thailand menerima lebih sejuta pelancong dari Malaysia dan hampir 600,000 dari India sepanjang tahun ini.
Sebelum pandemik Covid-19, pelancong China merupakan ketibaan asing paling tinggi di negara ini, namun keadaan itu berubah selepas Beijing melaksanakan polisi sifar Covid-19.
Pihak Berkuasa Pelancongan Thailand (TAT) baru-baru ini mendedahkan seramai 7.56 juta pelancong tiba di negara ini antara 1 Januari sehingga 26 Oktober tahun ini.
TAT menyasarkan kemasukan 10 juta pelancong asing menjelang hujung tahun ini.
Jurucakap kerajaan, Anucha Burapachaisri menyatakan, Thailand dijangka menyambut ketibaan 1.5 juta pelancong asing pada November dan Disember ini, dengan kebanyakannya dari Malaysia dan India.
Lebih seorang daripada tujuh pelancong yang tiba di Thailand adalah dari Malaysia.
Menurut Anucha, penerbangan dari India dan Malaysia ke Thailand pada November serta Disember sudah melebih 80 peratus ditempah.
Namun, jumlah sasaran kemasukan pelancong itu jauh lebih rendah berbanding tempoh sama direkodkan semasa sebelum pandemik.
Pasa 2019, Thailand menerima kemasukan lebih 40 juta pelancong asing.
Thailand aiming to exceed luring 10 million foreign visitors this year
Thailand is aiming to exceed its aim of luring 10 million foreign visitors this year. Malaysians and Indians are leading the return of holidaymakers, while majority of Chinese travelers, topping the list before the pandemic, are staying at home due to the nation’s Covid-Zero strategy.
As of Oct. 30, tourist arrivals totaled 7.56 million, with at least 1.5 million visitors each month expected by the year end, said government spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri in a statement. Flight bookings from India and Malaysia to Thailand exhibited a load-factor of 85% and 68%, respectively during November and December.
More than 1 million Malaysians visited Thailand this year, becoming the single-largest group of travelers to Thailand, which is popular for its beaches, national parks and Buddhist temples. Approximately, 600,000 Indians visited Thailand during the first nine months of the year, compared to less than 1,000 a year before.
Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy is depending on tourism renewal to counterbalance the impact of the costs of high global energy and unstable financial markets sending its currency to a 16-year low and price rises to a 14-year high earlier this year.
Thailand dismissed all travel restrains in July with the dipping of local Covid cases and majority of businesses going back to normal operation, helping attract tourists who were typically missing in the previous two years.
In 2023, domestic travel is expected to generate 760 billion baht in revenue, as per the tourism authority.
