Improved situation spurs tourism growth

Tourism Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul said the improved  political situation helped attract more  visitors to the country.

She said Monday that international arrivals hit 1.4 million between February 1 and 15, representing a 18%  increase compared with same period last year.

Meanwhile domestic tourism is forcasted to grow 10% this year with local travelers rising to 155 million and injecting  around 800 million baht to the economy.

Association of Domestic Travel  says the tourism industry in the first quarter 2015, will see  a 3% growth in domestic travelers and 10% in the second quarter  following several campaign  activities to promote travel on Chinese New Year, Valentines’ and Song Kran days.

It cited  the lively overall tourism atmosphere during the New Year festival this year that spurred growth in  spending of  around 30 billion baht to economy.

The association said the long holiday period during the New Year stimulated  higher domestic travel growth than the previous year, mainly due to decreasing energy prices which led to increasing spending for consumption.

It said  there had been 20 million Thai tourists traveling during the long holiday, with the northern region being  the most popular tourist destinations.

in Business | February 17