BANGKOK – Thailand is likely to miss its goal of hosting 30 million foreign tourists in 2023 amid fewer-than-expected visitors from China, according to Malaysia’s RHB Bank.
Figures from hotel commerce platform SiteMinder, Chinese shopping site Meituan and the Tourism Authority of Thailand released this week revealed that over 1.3 million this year were travellers from China. As a result, Thailand’s annual foreign tourist arrivals will be between 26 to 28 million in 2023, according to RHB. That will still be twice last year’s tally of 11.2 million.
“We expect full-year tourism arrivals to disappoint official estimates,” Mr Gan wrote. “Thailand’s tourism prognosis remains at best, neutral, given the recent slowdown in inbound tourism momentum.”