AWOL Cha Am
22 March 2013
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thai tourism soars in first two months of 2013
hua hin, THAILAND Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism and Sports reported, late last week, travel arrivals to Thailand soared 18.81%, January to February, which raised the performance over the first two months to more than 4.5 million visits. For the first two months of the year, the country welcomed 4,569,481 visits over 3,845,894 visits during the same period in 2012. In February alone, 2,328,297 international tourists visited Thailand up 25.60% from 1,853,736 visits over the same month last year. All regions except Africa and the Middle East reported gains. The major contributor East Asia, which includes ASEAN, improved 43.45% to 1,272,087 visits from 886,755 visits. China’s growth is incredible, with an increase of over 90% from 381,515 visits in January and February 2012 to 725,796 this year. Hong Kong grew 106.74% to 46,820, while Brunei posted a growth of 59.46%. Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Japan recorded an improved performance at 49.41%, 28.28%, 26.16% and 17.07% respectively. European visitors also modestly increased with even the UK posting a 3.33% increase, while Russia topped the charts with a 22.25% increase. Germany and Sweden also made healthy gains of around 13%. While there is no breakdown available showing where within Thailand these tourists headed, anecdotal evidence certainly suggests a sharp increase in the number of Russian visitors to Hua Hin as the most noticeable, although there is also some signs of the Chinese surge as well. Many business owners have also commented that there appears to have been less British people here this high season. The March figures will make interesting reading though as many businesses are reporting a significant drop in customer numbers presently. However this may be offset by the Songkran festivities in April (officially from 13th to 17th).
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