While the TAT was very optimistic in October about the target set up 14 Million arrival for Thailand this year, the ATTA is a bit more conservative. There can be seen a positive growth and the earlier mention 20% drop will not be achieved.
According to the ATTA (Association of Thai Travel Agents) the arrivals target of foreign visitors will remain on 11.5 Million visitors, still less then the expectations by the Ministry of Tourism. For the first 10 months of this year we have seen a drop of 10% compared to the same period last year. The big losses have been made in the beginning of the year as September and October show a growth rate of 16% and 10% respectively.
It is too early to speak about a recovery, but the number show that Thailand is still a favored destination, despite the crisis. The combined effort of airliners and hotels to adapt their rates definitely paid off. Markets as Germany and UK are still traveling, their decline is very small. The main Asian markets as Japan, China and South Korea dropped by 18% to 40%. We have seen the biggest growth for India, 5.5% up.
The figures which have been analyzed are from January 1st till October 31st, still much can happen as the high and peak season are not included.