Tourism

TAT cut estimate for tourism arrivals to 33 million in 2020

Thailand’s previously-robust tourism industry may lose between 6 to 10 million visitors in 2020 due to Covid-19 slowdown

Published

11 months ago

February 28, 2020

Boris Sullivan

Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) cut its estimate for international arrivals to 33 million in 2020, while tourism businesses have been knocked hard by the Covid-19 spreading around the world.

The Association of Thai Travel Agents (Atta) reported foreign tourists using Atta member services from January to Feb 20 was 500,232, a decrease of 40.7%. During Feb 1-20, the numbers slid 74.1% to 90,908 tourists.

But Thailand’s Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn has painted an even darker outlook for Thailand’s previously-robust tourism industry saying says he expects tourist arrivals to plunge by 50% in the first half of 2020.

Tourists Arrivals in Thailand 2009 – 2017
Infogram

While the Thai government plans to offer the beleaguered tourist sector soft loans and tax incentives to help them weather this slowdown, the plunge in tourists will likely damage the livelihood of millions of people whose jobs are tied to tourism.

Thailand’s Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council projects the virus will push its expansion down to 1.5% this year — should the epidemic last through June — down from 2.4% last year.

Tourism

Interprovincial travel in Thailand amid COVID-19 controls

The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) is suspending 57 additional train services from 26 January, 2021, as part of the nationwide effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19. These include ordinary trains, local trains, and suburban trains in the North (13 routes), Northeast (18 routes), South (12 routes), and East (14 routes).

Published

10 hours ago

January 26, 2021

Tourism Authority of Thailand

This update includes the latest announcement from the State Railway of Thailand regarding the suspension of 57 additional train services from 26 January, 2021.

(more…)

Tourism

TAT launches virtual tours to 4 top destinations in Thailand

Once inside an attraction, visitors can move around using the cursor, while some of the attractions have information about its historical background or details of items on display in both English and Thai.

Published

1 day ago

January 25, 2021

Tourism Authority of Thailand

TAT launches virtual tours to 4 top destinations in Thailand

Bangkok, 25 January, 2021 – The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has launched a virtual reality tour of top attractions in four of Thailand’s leading tourism destinations comprising Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai, and Surat Thani.

(more…)

Tourism

Wish you were here: how the pandemic harmed tourism-dependent economies

Before COVID-19, travel and tourism had become one of the most important sectors in the world economy, accounting for 10 percent of global GDP and more than 320 million jobs worldwide.

Published

2 weeks ago

January 13, 2021

Headline Editor

In 1950, at the dawn of the jet age, just 25 million people took foreign trips. By 2019, that number had reached 1.5 billion, and the travel and tourism sector had grown to almost too-big-to-fail proportions for many economies.

(more…)