Foreign tourists in Bangkok, Thailand (Photo: XINHUA/VNA) Bangkok (VNA) - Despite welcoming 20 million foreign tourists in the firstnine months of the year, Thailand’s tourism industry has not seen a significanteconomic boost, due to global economic concerns and a high level of household debt.
ChamnanSrisawat, President of the Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT), said the highlevel of household debt was the most significant factor affecting domestic tourism in the third quarter, which was reflected via the tourism confidenceindex of 69, dropping from 91 in the same period of 2019, and 74 and 72 in thefirst and second quarters of this year, respectively.
As of October1, the number of foreign visitors topped about 20 million, a year-on-year rise of 250%,with Malaysia claiming the top spot with 3.28 million, followed by China (2.5million) and the Republic of Korea (1.19 million).
In the thirdquarter, operators had a recovery rate of revenue at only 54% of the 2019 level.The majority (76%) said their income was still worse than 2019.
According toChamman, the slow economic recovery in China has affected overseas spending.
A TCT survey showed that only a quarter of Chinese visitors had high purchasing powerwith an average spending of over 70,000 THB (about 1,900 USD) per trip, with most of them spendingless than 70,000 THB.
Some of high spenders paid around 3 million THB, or over 100,000 THB per trip,as they purchased assets like condos or luxury brand items to diversify andmitigate economic risks they encountered in China.
Toeffectively attract high purchasing power from China and other countries, TCTsuggested the government consider other measures on top of the visa-freescheme, such as special tax incentives for foreigners who want to buyproperties or luxury items in Thailand./.
