28 million tourists expected to visit Thailand in 2015

BANGKOK, February 1 (TNA) - Secretary-general of Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA) Charoen Wangananont, says despite ongoing enforcement of martial law, many foreigners seem to better understand the situation in Thailand and the number of foreigners visiting the kingdom in 2015 is expected to rise to 28 million. Charoen said the number of foreign tourists visiting Thailand in 2015 should increase from approximately 26 million last year after the Tourism Authority of Thailand organised the ‘2015 Discover Thainess Year’ in January while the government also wants to focus on quality rather than quantity of the tourists visiting the country. He also said the martial law could be lifted about six months from now or may be before the next general election is held, adding that a calm local political situation will only benefit the industry. At present, Chinese tourists rank first in the number international visitors to Thailand followed by tourists from Malaysia, Japanese, Russia and South Korea. In addition, British and German tourists form the largest number of visitors from Europe to Thailand. (TNA)