The Permanent Secretary for Tourism and Sports, Pongpanu Svetarundra, said arrivals to Thailand generated tourism revenue of more than 2.1 trillion baht during the first 10 months of 2017.
Mr. Pongpanu said international tourist arrivals stood at over two million in October, up 20.92 percent from a year ago.
Last month, most foreign tourist arrivals were from East Asia, followed by visitors from Europe, South Asia, and North and South Americas respectively.
The Chinese remained the largest group, followed by the Malaysians and the Laotians, while the largest spenders were the Chinese, Russians and Malaysians, respectively.
From January to September this year, local tourists generated revenue of 695.2 billion baht, up 7.34 percent from the same period of 2016.
The expected rise results from an improved outlook for global tourism as well as Thailand’s investment in infrastructure, Deputy Prime Minister Thanasak Patimaprakorn told reporters.
“This is another year that we will need to focus on quality tourism more than tourist numbers,” he said.
Thanasak expects daily tourist spending to increase to 5,200 baht per person this year, from 5,100 baht last year.
Last year, Thailand had 32.6 million visitors, a rise of nearly 9 percent from the year before.
Source: Tourists generate 2.1 trillion baht during first 10 months
