Thailand to attract more tourists from AEC this year

BANGKOK, January 6 (TNA) - The formation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) with the combined population of 600 million should raise the number of Southeast Asian visitors to Thailand by 1.5 per cent this year and by further 2 per cent next year, from 7 million in 2015 to 9 million in 2016 and 10 million in 2017. Charoen Wang-ananont, President of the Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA), told journalists on Wednesday that Malaysians have formed the biggest proportion of Southeast Asian visitors to Thailand so far, followed by those from Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia, with each visitor from these countries spending about 2,500 baht per day on average. Charoen said this year Thailand expects a total of 32.78 million international visitors, up from 29.8 million last year when foreign tourists spent about 5,000 baht per person per day on average. Charoen acknowledged that Chinese tourists continued to form the biggest group of international visitors to Thailand last year, when nearly 8 million of them arrived, the number of which is likely to further rise this year, thanks to the huge Chinese population, followed by Malaysian visitors. In 2015, Charoen revealed that foreign visitors spent 1.4 trillion baht in Thailand, while Thai tourists spent about 800 billion baht. This year, the ATTA assessed, spending by foreign visitors should further rise to 1.42-1.43 trillion baht amid lingering global economic problems, while spending by Thai tourists should remain at the same level of last year. (TNA)