International tourists flock to Southeast Asia
WVR - Southeast Asian coutries including Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam have recorded significant increases in foreign arrivals in recent times.
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| Tourists visit Wat Arun, or the Temple of Dawn, in Bangkok, Thailand. (Photo: Bangkok Post) |
Thailand welcomed more than 22 million foreign tourists in the first 10 months of this year. Based on statistics collected to October 29, the top five source countries for tourists (in order) were Malaysia, China, the Republic of Korea, India and Russia.
According to Thai government spokesman, Mr. Chai Wacharonke, the number of arrivals to “the land of smiles” will increase further thanks to the government's visa-free policy for nationals of many countries.
Visitors from 64 countries can now enter the country visa-free for 30 days, after which they can apply for an extension of stay.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand has set a full-year target of 25-28 million foreign visitors who will generate about 2.16 trillion baht (more than 60 billion USD) in revenue.
The country welcomed 11.5 million foreign tourists last year but almost all of them came in the second half of the year after Covid curbs were lifted.
Meanwhile, a new report from the Cambodian Ministry of Tourism shows that the country attracted 3.92 million international tourists in the first 9 months of 2023, a sharp rise of 211% from 1.26 million over the same period last year.
Thailand topped the chart among the international arrivals to “the country of temples and towers”, followed by Vietnam and China, with increases of 189%, 156% and 549% respectively.
According to the report, 1.34 million foreign tourists visited Cambodia by air, up 186%, and 2.58 million by land and waterways, up 224%.
Ministry of Tourism's Secretary of State and Spokesman Top Sopheak said the country is expected to receive at least 5 million international arrivals this year.
Sopheak is confident that the Chinese-invested Siem Reap Angkor International Airport, which started its commercial operations on October 16, would attract more international tourists to Cambodia.
Tourism is one of the four pillars supporting Cambodia's economy, in addition to garment, footwear and travel goods export, agriculture, and construction and real-estate.
Vietnam welcomed 1.11 million international tourists in October, 5.5% higher than in September, and up 2.3 times compared to the same period last year.
The total number of international visitors to the S-shaped country in the first 10 months of 2023 reached nearly 10 million, 4.2 times higher year on year
This is the fourth consecutive month that Vietnam has served more than one million foreign tourists.
Tourists from Asia continue to lead the pack, with over 7.754 million coming to Vietnam in the ten months, followed by Europe (1.121 million), Americas (747,900), Oceania (351,500), and Africa (23,200).
Vietnam’s Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism has recently sought to revise the target to 12-13 million as a way to accelerate the recovery and development of the country’s tourism industry.
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