The government has released the surprising figure that travel and tourism accounted for a whopping 17 percent of the nation’s income in 2016.
Are you wondering just how much baht that measured out to?
Permanent Secretary for Tourism and Sports Pongpanu Sawetarun revealed that the grand total earned by Thailand for tourism last year was THB2.51 trillion. The bulk of that money was spent on hotels, food and beverage, transport and sporting activities, reported Thai News Bureau.
The Ministry of Tourism and Sports also noted that 130,000 people visited Thailand daily on average last year.
Apparently, despite a drop in tourism numbers due to the crackdown on Chinese zero-dollar tourism packages that affected the industry late last year and early this year, Thailand seems to be on track for another banner year as far as tourism revenue.
In January, 4.8 million tourists visited Thailand, which is up 4.89 percent from January 2016, and visitors have already spent THB253 million. Most tourists came from from China, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan and Laos.
A notable spike was seen during this month’s Chinese New Year celebration with 37,000 Chinese travelers entering the country daily, some even being greeted at the airport by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) with lucky orange-scented soap.
It is expected that 10 million Chinese tourists will visit the country over the course of 2017.
