BANGKOK, 7 July 2014 – The Department of Tourism (DOT) is convinced that a total number of 26 million foreign tourists will travel to Thailand this year after performance figures in June indicated a recovery in visitor numbers.
The fourth week of June welcomed 54,469 tourists, well up from 49,052 in the first week, or a jump of 11.04 percent. This reflects the settled political situation and the Department is now confident of achieving its annual target of 26 million foreign tourists, as reported by the Director General of DOT Arnupap Gaesornsuwan.
However, January-June 2014, Thailand received 11,776,494 tourists and generated income of 547.196 billion baht, a drop of 9.91 percent and 6.56 percent respectively from the same period last year. The figures for June, show 1,599,397 foreign tourists selected Thailand as their destination, which was a tumble of 24.37 percent from the preceding year.
Among the number of tourists, Chinese, Australian, and Laotian nationals were the top three. Meantime Chinese, Australians and Russians generated the most foreign income for Thailand, he added. .
