Seventeen million foreign tourists visited Thailand in the first half of 2017, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.
Pongpanu Svetarundra, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, this week chaired a press conference to announce that the tourism industry performed well in the first six months of this year as the country welcomed more than 17 million visitors from overseas, while generating more than 870 billion baht.
According to him, the number of tourists increased by 4.41% and revenue increased by 6.05% year on year.
Pongpanu said the month of June saw the widest margin with 11% growth in the number of tourists.
Most of the revenue generated came from East Asian, European, North American, and South Asian tourists. Chinese visitors contributed up to 240 billion baht, followed by Russians and Malaysians.
The Permanent Secretary is confident that the Thai tourism industry will continue to thrive in the second half, thanks to economic recovery in USA, Europe, and China.
