Thai tourism is likely to bottom this year
Thailand’s tourism authority, the TAT, says both international and domestic tourism is likely to plunge to historic lows this year.
The Bangkok Post reported that the TAT predicts the number of international arrivals will be just 1 million, while domestic tourism will drop to just 50 to 60 million trips.
TAT’s Yuthasak Supasorn says the target of 3 million overseas arrivals is still in place, but Thailand could only see a third of that number, a 74% drop in sales compared to the first 2 months of 2020 before the pandemic broke out.
Domestic tourism is also likely to miss the target of 100 million trips with local bans and strict travel restrictions this year, especially if a three-month ban is introduced to contain the spread of Covid-19.
Meanwhile, the Bangkok Post reports that the TAT has set a minimum target of 10 million foreign arrivals and 122 million domestic trips as the worst-case scenario for the coming year. These goals assume that the global Covid-19 situation will remain unstable and countries will continue to have travel restrictions. In this “worst-case” scenario, the TAT forecasts approximately 625 billion baht in revenue from international arrivals and 680 billion baht from domestic tourism.
Should the Covid-19 situation improve globally, Thailand would at best welcome 18 million foreign tourists by 2022 and generate more than 1 trillion baht in revenue, with 160 million domestic trips contributing 882 billion baht.
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