Thailand's political situation not affect US, Canadian visitors

BANGKOK, January 23 (TNA) - The state-run Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) says that the domestic political situation has not generally affected the number of US and Canadian tourist arrivals in the Kingdom so far. TAT Director for the North American market Jureerat Khongtrakul assessed on Thursday that the number of tourist arrivals from the United States alone this year should be at the comparable level of last year, at about 820,000, saying that Thailand's political situation would not have any serious impact on the domestic tourism as long as there was not bloodshed. Jureerat acknowledged that frequent visitors who have formed the majority of foreign tourists in Thailand appear to be familiar with the domestic situation, while first-time foreign visitors could be sensitive with a violent incident. According to the TAT director, about 230,000 Canadian tourists visited Thailand last year and they are more sensitive to the domestic political situation than US tourists, but their arrivals are likely to further grow despite travel advisories about Thailand. (TNA)