Thailand likely to draw 20m int'l tourist arrivals in 2012

BANGKOK, October 15 (TNA) - The Tourism and Sports Ministry says it is believed that Thailand will achieve attracting up to 20 million international tourist arrivals into the Kingdom this year, meeting an official target. Permanent Secretary for Tourism and Sport Suwat Sidthilaw told reporters Monday that, based on his ministry's statistics, the number of international tourist arrivals in Thailand this year had reached 15.96 million as of September 2012, an 8.69 per cent year-on-year increase. Suwat acknowledged his ministry has estimated that the number of international tourist arrivals in Thailand at the end of this year should total about 20.58, thanks to the high tourism season in the final quarter annually. According to the permanent secretary, 900 chartered flights will arrive in the country before the year ends; while efforts have been carried on to remove obstacles in Thailand’s tourism sector in order to help the country achieve another target of earning two trillion baht gross tourism revenue by 2015. As part of the efforts, the senior official said, immigration services at Thailand's main Suvarnabhumi Airport are being further upgraded and all cabs in Phuket, the country's globally-renowned southern resort province, are also being all-out legalized with standard fares regulated by local authorities. To increase the country’s tourism revenue, Suwat noted, the Thai government has a policy to draw more international tourists from new markets, namely Europe, ASEAN, Latin America and Baltic, and to promote Thai cultures and festivals to other countries. (TNA)