Bangkok (Thailand) – March 18, 2015 – Thailand's visitor numbers reached a record high of 2,654,634 in January 2015, an increase of 16.30% compared to January 2014, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports announced. This rise is mainly attributable to the strong recovery across all Asian and ASEAN markets, including the top performers China, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, and India.

The governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Thawatchai Arunyik, commented: “This is a clear indication that all our strategies to revive tourism have achieved excellent results. It is an excellent start to 2015, and we hope to maintain these arrival levels throughout the year.”

"I would like to emphasize once again that this is the result of the hard work of the entire industry, including Thai Airways International, all airlines flying to Thailand, Thailand's airports, the Immigration Department, and the entire private sector, including the MICE industry, hotels, tour operators, and travel guides. They all deserve recognition for this turnaround after a difficult and challenging year in 2014."

Here is a summary of the most important findings:

Overview: All regions recorded good growth, with the exception of Europe and Oceania. Visitor numbers were as follows: 1,545,683 from East Asia (+43.25%), 727,462 from Europe (-14.32%), 122,714 from the Americas (+1.41%), 109,440 from South Asia (+19.14%), 81,965 from Oceania (-6.43%), 55,521 from the Middle East (+31.05%), and 11,849 from Africa (+0.75%).

East Asia: Visitors from East Asia constituted the largest share of all visitors. A total of 1.54 million, or 58.23%, came from East Asian countries. China was the most important source market from East Asia with 560,399 arrivals (+56.96%). Besides China, the most important countries of origin were Malaysia (279,517 arrivals, +92.57%), Korea (153,311 arrivals, +13.06%), and Japan (121,926 arrivals, +5.43%).

The ASEAN countries recorded a total of over 622,277 arrivals, with spectacular growth in Malaysia (279,517 (+92.57%)), Laos (89,890 (+14.06%)), Singapore (69,229 (+49.97%)), Vietnam (53,038 (+54.56%)), Cambodia (51,605 (+35.51%)), the Philippines (22,627 (+15.43%)), Myanmar (19,287 (+56.56%)) and Brunei (1,128 (+43.33%)), with the exception of Indonesia (35,956, -13.56%).

Europe: Arrivals declined by 14.32% to 727,462, partly due to the economic situation in the region. However, some European countries recorded increases, including Germany 81,309 (+0.59%), France 78,391 (+7.81%), Eastern Europe 67,413 (+1.21%), Italy 32,022 (+11.25%), Austria 14,352 (+1.33%), Belgium 10,446 (+1.73%), Spain 9,154 (+8.14%), and Ireland 5,914 (+2.21%).

Americas: Arrivals from the Americas rose by 1.41% to 122,714. The main market, the USA, saw an increase of 0.59% to 82,036. Arrivals from Canada rose by 0.16% to 25,430. Latin American markets are particularly promising, for example Brazil (+25.03%).

South Asia: Arrivals from South Asia rose by a remarkable 19.14% to 109,440. India led the list with an increase of 16.62% to 81,716 arrivals. Other countries also recorded strong growth, including Bangladesh with 9,908 (+75.89%), Sri Lanka with 4,988 (+1.92%), and Nepal with 2,749 (+33.51%), with the exception of Pakistan with 5,834 (-1.07%).

Oceania: Arrivals from Oceania decreased by 6.43% to 81,965 visitors. The number of visitors from Australia fell by 7.11% to 72,904 and from New Zealand by 3.47% to 8,647.

Middle East: Arrivals from the Middle East saw strong growth of 31.05% to 55,521. The number of visitors from the United Arab Emirates increased by 114.92% to 7,361, followed by Kuwait with 7,080 (+92.44%) and Saudi Arabia with 1,267 (+10.17%).

Africa: Arrivals from Africa increased by 0.75% to 11,849.

(Source: Ministry of Tourism and Sport, Immigration Department, Police Department, updated: 17.03.2015)

The TAT has set itself the goal for 2015 of attracting 28 million international visitors and thereby generating estimated tourism revenue of 1.35 trillion baht.

Contact information: International Public Relations Department, Tourism Authority of Thailand, 1600 New Petchaburi Road, Makkasan, Ratchathevi, Bangkok 10400, Thailand, Tel.: +66 (0) 2250 5500 ext. 4545-48, Fax: +66 (0) 2253 7419, E-mail: [email protected]