Thailand's tourist arrivals up 66% year-on-year in May

August 4, 2011
Source: MB.com

BANGKOK (dpa) – Tourism arrivals to Thailand jumped 66 per cent in May, compared with a year ago when Bangkok was in the grip of anti-government protests that left 92 dead, the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) said.

Thailand's gain in tourists in May was the steepest in South-East Asia, which was the fastest-growing region of the Asia-Pacific that month.

South-East Asia recorded a 16-percent increase in arrivals in May boosted by a 66percent rebound in arrivals to Thailand, a 37percent rise in Vietnam, 33 per cent in Myanmar, 12 per cent in Cambodia and 11 percent in Singapore, PATA said.

''A lot of that increase came from Thailand, because of the very poor performance it suffered last May,'' said John Koldowski, PATA's managing director of strategic intelligence.

In May, more than 1.3 million foreign tourists visited the kingdom, compared with 826,000 a year ago, he said.

In April-May 2010, Bangkok was the scene of daily anti-government protests that erupted into bloody street battles with security forces that left 92 dead, about 2,000 injured and parts of the capital in flames.

Most Western embassies issued travel alerts warning their nationals to stay away from Bangkok.