Bangkok (Thailand) – December 18, 2014 – The number of international visitor arrivals has increased for the second consecutive month. A total of 2,438,301 visitors came to Thailand in November, an increase of 2.53 percent compared to November 2013. According to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, the main reason for this was a 58.8 percent increase in Chinese visitors to 513,441.

The arrivals in November are a clear sign of an emerging recovery and have restored the confidence of international tourists in Thailand. Preliminary figures for daily visitor arrivals at international airports in December also indicate a steady upward trend in the final month of 2014.

In November, the top ten countries of origin were China, Malaysia, Russia, Japan, Singapore, Laos, Korea, India, the UK, and Germany. Regionally, East Asia was the largest source market with a total of 1,472,427 visitors, an increase of 10.80% and a share of 60.39% of all arrivals. Visitor numbers from South Asia also rose by 3.28%, primarily due to the recovery of the Indian market, which increased by 0.42% to 85,352 visitors.

The governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Thawatchai Arunyik, commented on the beginning of the recovery as follows: “The arrival figures in November are a very encouraging sign. We are optimistic that the visitor numbers in December will be satisfactory, especially given the extensive promotional activities we carried out for the New Year's celebrations.”

He added: “This has indeed been a very challenging year for the entire travel and tourism industry. However, we have overcome this challenge and implemented numerous measures to address it. The figures for November clearly demonstrate that these efforts have yielded positive results.”

According to the latest figures, the total number of international tourists from January to November 2014 was 21,938,435.

The Ministry of Tourism and Sports reports that Thai tourism has been showing signs of recovery for the past three months. Many accommodations in popular Thai destinations have recorded numerous advance bookings, particularly from China, leading up to the 2015 Chinese New Year. Many tourists are also traveling directly to popular beach destinations with international airports, such as Phuket and Krabi.

Media contact: 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], Website: www.TATnews.org, Facebook: TAT Newsroom, Twitter: TAT Newsroom