BANGKOK, Nov 10 — The Ministry of Tourism & Sports is promoting Thainess to woo foreign tourists and this is part of its campaigns to raise the number of Chinese visitors to 5-5.5 million next year.
Tourism & Sports Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul said Thainess, or Thai ways of life, would be the main highlight of Thai tourism campaigns next year. She said tourism had dropped due to the political situations earlier this year but it is now recovering in the last quarter this year.
She expects Thailand will receive 25.5 million visitors throughout this year compared with 26.5 million last year, a drop of one million.
Ms Kobkarn said the theme of Thainess had been introduced in a travel fair in England and received a very warm welcome from European tourists.
She said European tourists usually stayed 10 days per trip and Britons did 17 days on average, compared with other foreign visitors who stayed 8-9 days on average in Thailand.
Tourism campaigns with the theme of Thai lifestyles will be officially launched next year together with cycling routes in 47 provinces, the minister said.
She will present the theme in the China International Travel Mart 2014 opening Friday in Shanghai and running though Sunday. She will leave for Shanghai on Wednesday.
Ms Kobkarn that the three month visa fee exemption for Chinese visitors expired Saturday and was not extended because of considerable arrivals of Chinese tourists. She expects 5 to 5.5 million Chinese tourists to visit Thailand next year, compared with 4 to 4.5 million this year.
