How does Thailand earn more tourism dollars than anywhere else in Asia?
The nation, widely known for its low prices, fine beaches and villas and great street food, trails only France, Spain and the US among global destinations
Just more than a year ago, I ate at Nahm, in Bangkok – and walked out after paying barely US$60 for a tasting menu that currently ranks 49th on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list.
My grand, five-star hotel, the Anantara Siam, with its gilded murals and landscaped courtyards, cost US$150 a night, including a breakfast buffet that was truly fit for royalty.
Even the most expensive souvenir I bought in town, an elephant figurine with inlaid mother of pearl, cost less than a typical outing to McDonald’s back home in New York.
Yet, according to a visualisation of recent UN World Tourism Organisation data by HowMuch, a financial literacy and infographics agency, Thailand outranks every other nation in Asia when it comes to tourism spend.
Last year, it collected US$57 billion in international tourism receipts, nearly doubling Macau (US$36 billion), Japan (US$34 billion), Hong Kong (US$33 billion) and mainland China (US$33 billion). Globally, the only countries that earn more tourism dollars than Thailand are France (US$61 billion), Spain (US$68 billion), and the United States, which handily takes the gold medal, at US$211 billion.
It all comes down to volume.
Foreign arrivals in Thailand could hit 40 million next year, which is more than half the country’s population.