BANGKOK, Thailand (18 Dec 2004) -- The number of tourists visiting Thailand increased this year by about 20 percent, despite bird flu and violence in the deep south, the head of the Tourism Authority of Thailand said Friday. And another banner year is forecast for 2005. A total of 12 million tourists will have visited the country by year's end, bringing in revenues of 384 billion baht (US$9.77 billion; euro7.35 billion), an increase of 24.2 percent from 2003, the TAT said. "How can we make a big jump like that when there's bird flu... The southern unrest?" TAT Governor Juthamas Siriwan told reporters. "The main thing is that everyone — not just TAT alone, but the tourism industry... worked very hard. Thailand is very hot right now." Juthamas said a large portion of the growth came from strong markets including Japan, the United States and the Middle East. She also attributed the massive growth to government plugs for tourism, which has been one of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's top priorities. Thaksin has downplayed bird flu and a growing Muslim insurgency in the southern provinces for the sake of sustaining the country's no. 1 income earner. The avian influenza outbreaks in Asia forced authorities to cull more than 100 million poultry birds in an effort to control the situation. The virus spread to humans as well, killing 12 people in Thailand and 20 in Vietnam. | | There were also fears that tourism would be hurt by the violence in southern provinces bordering Malaysia — the only Muslim majority area in mostly Buddhist Thailand. In 2003, 10 million tourists visited Thailand, a drop of 7.4 percent from the year before, due to the SARS respiratory disease that killed 349 people in mainland China and sickened thousands worldwide before subsiding in July 2003. Juthamas said Thailand is aiming for 13.4 million tourists in 2005, and in 2008, more than 20 million tourists and tourism revenues of 789 billion baht (US$20.1 billion; euro15.1 billion). SOURCE - China Post |
