BANGKOK, 1 August 2012 – The central bank has assured that the tourism industry has continued to expand despite the financial crisis in Europe.
The Bank of Thailand (BoT)’s Senior Director for Macroeconomic and Monetary Policy Department Mathee Supapongse said on Tuesday that the travel and hotel sectors recorded constant growth in June, when about 160,000 foreign holiday-makers visited the country. The number represented a 10.1-percent on-year growth.
Mr. Mathee said that visitor numbers to every region of Thailand have increased, with Chinese and Vietnamese visitors on top of the list.
He credited the continued growth of Asian economy for the buoyant situation in the travel sector.
Concerning the country’s hotel occupancy rate, Mr. Mathee said that the number was 53.5 percent in June, up from 49.7 percent from the same time of last year.
For the second quarter of 2012, around 4.9 million overseas travellers landed in Thailand, an on-year increase of 9.2 percent, with most visitors coming from within the Southeast Asian region. This is in spite of the bombings in Hat Yai and earthquake scares in the South, in March and April, respectively.
The BoT’s Senior Director has also affirmed that the debt crisis in Eurozone has not affected Thailand’s major money-spinner much, so far.
