The country earns 1.24 trillion baht from over 16 million foreign tourists in the first six months of this year. The tourist arrivals represented a 13% increase from same period last year.
The tourism figures were revealed yesterday by Mr Yuthasak Supasorn, the governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).
He said in the first half of this year, 16.67 million foreign visited the country, an increase of 13% from same period last year.
Tourism revenues from these foreign tourists in the first six months also jumped to 1.24 trillion, up 8.24 billion baht or up about 17% from same period last year.
For this year’s first quarter, the number of foreign tourists also increased 15% and in the second quarter 9%.
He attributed the revenue jumps to more tourists from China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan.
They have returned to Bangkok after the deadly Erawan shrine bombing in downtown Bangkok last year.
Meanwhile he estimated that in the third quarter of this year, about eight million tourists, will visit Thailand, and tourism revenue is expected to rise to 635 billion baht, up 14%.
