Tourists visit Ayutthaya Historical Park that covers the ruins of the old city of Ayutthaya, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya province, Thailand. ( Photo: Xinhua/VNA)
Bangkok (VNA) – Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism and Sports on January 24 released its tourism data for 2022 with a sharp increase in the number of foreign visitors – 11.15 million from just 428,000 in the previous year.
Meanwhile, the Thai government just planned to attract 10 million foreign arrivals in 2022.
In December 2022, Thailand welcomed 2.24 million foreign visitors while the figure for the same period in 2021 was just 230,497.
In 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, Thailand saw a record high of foreign arrivals with 40 million tourists.
The data also showed that Malaysia, India, and Singapore were Thailand's top three source markets last year.
In 2023, Thailand expects to attract 25 million international visitors, including at least 5 million from China which is the biggest source market of the country before the pandemic.
China's reopening is expected to further boost Thailand's vital tourism sector, which accounted for about 12% of the gross domestic product in Southeast Asia's second-largest economy before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Thai government on January 24 approved a budget of 3.95 billion baht (120.72 million USD) to boost domestic travel and international tourism in secondary cities./.
