Thailand welcomes 3,000 foreign tourists in November

A tourist has her body temperature checked at a temple in Bangkok, Thailand (Photo: AFP/VNA)

Bangkok (VNA) - Thailand hosted 3,065 foreign tourists in November, official data showed on December 28, the second month of receiving long-stay visitors since a ban was imposed in April to keep COVID-19 infections under control.

As reported by Reuters, the November figure is just a fraction of the 3.39 million arrivals in the same period last year. In October, there were 1,201 foreign visitors.

Though the country is gradually opening to foreign visitors and offering incentives to boost domestic travel, efforts to revive its tourism-driven economy are being hampered by an outbreak found 10 days ago that has since infected more than 1,600 people across 43 provinces.

In the January-November period, the number of foreign visitors slumped by 81 percent from a year earlier to about 6.7 million.

Last year, the country welcomed nearly 40 million tourists who spent 1.91 trillion THB (63 billion USD), or about 11.3 percent of its gross domestic product.

The state planning agency predicts only 5 million foreign visitors in 2021. Foreign visitors at present are required to obtain special visas and undergo two weeks of quarantine./.

VNA