Visitor arrivals to Thailand totalled 12.4 million between January-May 2015, up 25 per cent over the same period of 2014, and are on track to cross the estimated 28-million projection for the entire year.
According to the latest figures released by the Department of Tourism, Ministry of Tourism and Sports, the top five source markets in January-May 2015 were China (3,273,695), Malaysia (1,397,241), Japan (575,186) Korea (546,520), and Lao PDR. (459,225).
The Ministry of Tourism and Sports reported that the total arrivals of 12,448,641 were an increase of 24.72 per cent over January-May 2014. They generated 592.9 billion Baht in tourism income, up 25.13 per cent over the same period.
The Ministry is projecting total earnings from tourism to hit the 2015 target of 2.2 trillion Baht, comprising of 1.4 trillion Baht from international tourism and 800 billion Baht from domestic tourism.
In May alone, Thailand welcomed 2,309,250 tourists, an increase of 38.21 per cent over May 2014, and 18.79 per cent over May 2013. It was also the highest monthly growth for that month, as compared with May 2014 (1,670,860), May 2013 (1,943,968), and May 2012 (1,546,888).
By region, strong growth was reported in arrivals from East Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and America. Only the European market showed a decline, primarily because of the decline in arrivals from Russia.
Analysis of visitor expenditure in the January-May 2015 period indicated that the top spenders were Chinese tourists (156.839 billion Baht), followed by Malaysian tourists (33.092 billion Baht), Russians (29.021 billion Baht), the UK (27.949 billion Baht) and the U.S. (25.047 billion Baht).
