Thailand tops 2 million tourists this year, as it longs for absent Chinese visitors

The tourism ministry voiced hopes that Chinese holidaymakers, who made up nearly 30 per cent of tourists pre-pandemic, may return before the end of the year

In their absence, travellers from India, Malaysia, Britain and Singapore have been leading the rush. Thailand expects to receive 7.5 million tourists this year

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Tourists lounge under umbrellas along Patong Beach in Phuket, Thailand. Photo: AP

Published: 2:14pm, 28 Jun 2022

Indians and Malaysians are leading a tourist rush to Thailand after it relaxed entry rules, with total arrivals topping 2 million since the start of the year - giving a boost to the Southeast Asian nation’s sluggish economy.

Foreign tourist arrivals totalled 2.03 million between January 1 and June 26, deputy government spokeswoman Traisuree Taisaranakul said in a statement on Monday. Travellers from India, Malaysia, Britain, Singapore and the United States topped the list, she said.

Thailand’s tourism industry, which was nearly destroyed during the pandemic, expects average monthly arrivals to surge to about 1.5 million with the country scrapping a pre-travel registration and mandatory medical insurance from July 1.

Traditional Thai dancers wearing face masks perform at a shrine in Bangkok earlier this month. Thailand dropped rules requiring people to wear masks on June 24. Photo: AFP

Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy has rolled back most of the pandemic-era curbs on travel and businesses, and last week lifted a mask mandate while allowing pubs and bars to return to normal operating hours. The measures are part of efforts to shore up an economy which depended on tourism to generate about 12 per cent of gross domestic product before the pandemic.

A weaker currency and the recent legalisation of cannabis may also help bring back more tourists to Thailand, Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said last week.

The ministry has set a “conservative” forecast to attract 7.5 million foreign arrivals this year, based on the assumption that Chinese tourists will remain absent due to that country’s zero-Covid policy and factoring in the war in Ukraine, he said.

While Thailand is unlikely to see pre-Covid levels of tourist arrivals without Chinese visitors, a gradual easing of travel curbs for students and business executives and resumption of flights between the two countries offered optimism of the return of holidaymakers in the second half of the year, Traisuree said in a statement on Sunday.