Thailand has joined a “tourism war game” with its neighbors as Asian countries do everything they can to win back foreign visitors, the chairman of Tourism Council of Thailand said.
Chamnan Srisawat told the media recently that Thailand will try to capitalize on pent-up travel demand paying foreign airlines to increase flights to Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket and support overseas tour agencies, arranging charter flights when necessary.
He said the challenge is on for the government and private sector to reach 12 million tourists in 2022. It’s notable no other Thai agency is predicting more than 10 million arrivals this year.
Ampai Sakdanukuljit Sliwinski, head of the Chonburi Tourism and Sports Department, said at a July 1 meeting at the Shambhala Hotel that the province saw four million visitors so far this year.
The overwhelming majority of those were Thais, as Thailand, as a whole, only attracted 1.9 million international arrivals in the first 5.5 months of the year, and not all of those were tourists.
Ampai said Indian and Vietnamese tourists were the two biggest groups to visit Pattaya. It is hoped that Chinese tourists will return by next February.
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