Thailand tourism boosts but still below pre-covid level

Thailand says tourist numbers jumped in 2022, as Covid-19 restrictions were eased, but remains way below pre-pandemic levels.

The South East Asia holiday destination saw 11.81 million tourists last year- up from just 400,000 in 2021.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand hopes that figure will more than double to 25 million by the end of this year. However, those figures are still much lower than the record 39.8 million tourists visited the country in 2019.

The country is set to start charging overseas visitors 300 baht ($9.20; £7.40) each from the start of June.

Thailand now has a target to increase tourist numbers to 80 million a year by 2027.

Tourism revenue accounted for more than 10 per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019. In 2021 it was just 1 per cent.

By aiming to more than double the number of people who visited before the pandemic, the Thai government hopes to see tourism spending rise above $150 billion.

"This target, once achieved, could raise the country's tourism revenue to 5 trillion baht in 2027," the government's Public Relations Department said in a Facebook post.

The announcement also said Thailand plans to upgrade "tourism safety standards in order to accommodate the influx of visitors."

Like much of South East Asia, Thailand is expected to see a jump in tourist numbers from China, which dropped the strict border controls it put in place during the pandemic.

In December China's immigration administration said passport applications for its citizens wishing to travel internationally would resume from 8 January.

Before the covid pandemic China was the biggest source of tourists of Thailand, with almost 11 million visitors in 2019.