China’s
total of 1.12 million visitor arrivals made it the first time that
any country had crossed the one million mark in the short span of
three months. The growth was mainly due to the Chinese New Year in
February 2013, which led to a spike in long-holiday travel to
Thailand. In addition, major markets such as Russia, Korea and India
are showing strong double digit growth and Japan has bounced back
strongly.
TAT
Governor Suraphon Svetasreni welcomed the good results. “We are
gratified to see that our marketing efforts are producing results. In
these days of economic challenges and geopolitical instability, it is
very important that at least one sector of the economy is continuing
to prove to be a major source of income and jobs.” Mr. Suraphon
said he was also pleased to see that the strengthening of the Thai
Baht has not impacted visitor arrivals to Thailand.
Here
is a summary of the key results:
Overview: All
regions grew well except the Middle East. Visitors from East Asia
totalled 3,623,713 (+28.50%), Europe 2,131,719 (+10.28%), the
Americas 331,070 (+8.71%), South Asia 313,634 (+16.03%), Oceania
250,124 (+6.07%), Middle East 139,499 (-1.20%), and Africa 38,959
(+6.70%).
East
Asia: East
Asian visitor arrivals comprise the biggest market share of all
visitors. A total of 3.62 million or 53.07% were from East Asian
countries. Apart from China, the other top sources of arrivals were
Malaysia (627,759), Japan (408,048), and Korea (350,529).
The
ASEAN countries in total are generating over 1.48 million arrivals,
with spectacular growth by Brunei (+73.11%), Indonesia (+35.13%),
Myanmar (+23.27%), Singapore (+22.90%), Vietnam (+5.02%), Philippines
(+4.42%), Malaysia (+1.94%) except Cambodia declined by 11.69% and
Lao PDR. (-16.64%).
Europe: European
visitors showed a good growth rate of 10.28% to 2.13 million. Russia
retained its status as the largest source market from Europe with
arrivals of 584,516, up 26%. Germany is the second highest source
market with a total of 252,108, up 12.22%, followed by the United
Kingdom 246,943, up 2.83%.
Strong
growth from East Europe (+27%) and Sweden (+3.72%) was due to the
positive economic conditions there and the special charter flights
which are operated to Thailand during the winter months. Sweden is
recovering from a year ago while Belgium (+12.10%), Ireland (+5.94%),
Switzerland (+5.92%), Spain (+1.15%), and France (+0.40%) continued
to see growth.
Declining
source-markets from Europe included Italy, Denmark, Finland and
Norway partly due to weather-related problems in Northern Europe.
Italy was particularly affected by the Eurozone debt crisis and the
presidential election in February 2013.
The
Americas: Arrivals
from the Americas showed a growth of 8.71% to 331,070. The main
market, USA, increased by 8.25% to 227,319, which was an indication
of the country emerging from its economic downturn. Arrivals from
Canada were up 4.57%. Showing considerable promise are Latin American
markets; such as, Brazil (+21.11%) and Argentina (+18.28%) due to
their strong economies.
South
Asia: Arrivals
from South Asia grew by a strong 16.03% to 313,634. India topped the
list with arrivals up by 18.21% to 249,350, due to its strong economy
and increased flights. Other countries; such as, Pakistan (+7.14%)
and Nepal (+2.21%), too, saw unrest and political protests but they
did not affect tourist travel to Thailand.
Oceania: Arrivals
from Oceania grew by 6.07% to 250,124 visitors. Australian visitors
were up 5.55% to 224,530 driven by the robust Australian economy and
the strength of the Australian dollar. Arrivals from New Zealand were
up 11.29% to 25,016.
Middle
East: Arrivals
declined by 1.20% to 139,499. This was mainly because of a decline of
5.92% in arrivals from the UAE, to 20,209. UAE residents took
advantage of the weak Euro and the subsequent fall in prices of
travel packages to European destinations to travel there instead.
Moreover, the economic sanctions on Iran have also dragged down the
growth rate of this region.
However,
some source-markets, including Egypt (+28.02%), Israel (+11.70%), and
Kuwait (+11.21%) reported good results.
Africa: Arrivals
from Africa grew by 6.70% to 38,959, mainly due to the driving force
of the South African market.
In
2013, TAT is confident that if the global, regional and local
situation remains stable, Thailand will receive 24.14 million
arrivals, generating a projected tourism income of 1.1 trillion Baht.
Top
10 source-markets of Visitor Arrivals to Thailand Jan. – Mar. 2013
|
Ranks
|
Arrivals
by country of nationality
|
Total
|
%
Change over Jan.-Mar. 2012
|
|
1
|
China
|
1,122,691
|
93.47
|
|
2
|
Malaysia
|
627,759
|
1.94
|
|
3
|
Russia
|
584,516
|
26.00
|
|
4
|
Japan
|
408,048
|
22.07
|
|
5
|
Korea
|
350,529
|
19.79
|
|
6
|
Germany
|
252,108
|
12.22
|
|
7
|
India
|
249,350
|
18.21
|
|
8
|
United
Kingdom
|
246,943
|
2.83
|
|
9
|
USA
|
227,319
|
8.25
|
|
10
|
Australia
|
224,530
|
5.55
|
Source:
Ministry of Tourism and Sports, Immigration Bureau, Police
Department, updated: 10/04/2013
