Thailand tourism to see drop of 10-15%

The tourism business is expected to record a drop of 10-15 per cent this year mainly due to the political turbulence midyear, but the future appears bright for 2011.

Prakit Chinamourphong, president of the Thai Hotels Association (THA), said overall tourism should record a drop of 10-15 per cent both in the number of tourists and revenue compared with last year.

“The political problems … were the key factors in the drop,” he said.

Tourism in the first quarter saw very high growth, but sharply dropped after the political crisis in May when red-shirt protesters damaged several public sites. The business had recovered by the third quarter, before plunging again in October because of heavy flooding in many provinces.

The Nation