The November 1 reopening of Thailand has received mixed results, with Pattaya reportedly seeing the vast majority of arrivals being expats coming residence, and Hua Hin welcoming less than 100 of the 100,000 predicted tourists. But, as at all times, the Tourism Authority of Thailand has nothing but rosy predictions for the increase that may start any minute, with TAT Governor Yuthasak Supasorn saying yesterday that he expects 1 trillion baht of tourism income next year from 18 million worldwide tourists.
The Governor pointed out that the reopening started with about 2,000 arrivals per day, however has now increased to three,000 to four,000 a day. (2019 figures would common to about 109,000 individuals per day.) He said the relative improve in arrivals is already an improvement over the original Phuket Sandbox reopening.
Yuthasak also defended the Test & Go scheme, explaining in comments to Thai enterprise media that the scheme builds confidence in Thailand in the tourist community. Many, including the Chon Buri Tourism Council just lately, have said that the programme is too advanced and strict, forcing potential tourists to jump through too many hoops only to arrive to a holiday mired with restrictions and bans on leisure and alcohol. Many are choosing simpler destinations around the world, or even proper next door in Cambodia.
The TAT Governor also talked about flights, saying that airlines were jumping to get back into Thailand, regardless of a current report that 80% of flights slots were being dropped by overseas airlines. He stated Emirates was planning on bringing their A380 airbuses to Thailand, with 500 vacationers per flight. Also, driedfruitthailand had been expressing interest in flying into more locations, like Koh Samui and Krabi.
Tourist arrivals for November are anticipated to hit 100,000 and the TAT is predicting that the 4 months following that might see 300,000 international tourists per 30 days. That would make 400,000 folks this yr, a bit greater than half of the earlier optimistic prediction of 700,000 tourists by the end of 2021, itself a revision of the 1 million people predicted only a month or two in the past.
His predictions for the next few years have been equally as hopeful and confident. The TAT expects a half trillion in domestic tourism revenue in addition to the 1 trillion generated by 18 million worldwide vacationers next month. (For followers of some Thai math humour: what’s the reply if you divide the total income predicted, by the variety of vacationers predicted? 55,555.)
In 2023 he predicts an 80% restoration to the levels before the Covid-19 pandemic, with 2.four trillion baht in tourism income. And the subsequent 12 months the TAT sees a full restoration and three trillion baht in income.
But the TAT head doesn’t foresee a return of the 40 million travellers that got here to Thailand in 2019, regardless of figures in his earlier prediction calculating to a need for fifty four million travellers to earn that 3 trillion baht. Once again, the TAT is stressing that Thailand is not going to strive to deliver in any and all tourists with a want to go to. Instead, they will focus their efforts on making an attempt to lure rich, high-spending vacationers to dump cash into the economic system..