Thai tourism grows 20% so far this year

MALAYSIA, June 1 (TNA) - Thailand’s tourism has grown by 19-20 per cent on average so far this year, compared with the corresponding period of last year, thanks to the country’s political stability. Sisavachara Cheewarattanaporn, President of the Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA), told reporters of the domestic tourism development Saturday, noting that the growth in the Thai tourism so far this sector could also be attributed to political conflicts between China and Japan, which have drawn more international visitors and charter flights to Thailand. Sisavachara said that growth in the number of Chinese visitors to Thailand alone has been remarkable since early this year. According to the ATTA president, up to about 1.5 million Chinese travellers had arrived in Thailand during the first four months of this year and the ATTA, thus, expects the number of Chinese arrivals in Thailand to exceed three million by the end this year, from about 2.7 million last year. Accompanied by Thai tourism business operators, the ATTA president is now in Malaysia to promote tourism cooperation between the two neighbouring countries, in the lead-up to the ASEAN Community (AC), set to be formed by 2015. (TNA)