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Tourist arrivals to Thailand surge 25 pct in Jan-May

Xinhua, June 24, 2015 Adjust font size:

The number of tourists visiting Thailand reached more than 12.4 million between January and May this year, up 24.72 percent year-on-year, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) said Wednesday.

Tourist arrivals totaled 12,448,641 during the first five months of 2015, generating 592.9 billion Baht (17.6 billion U.S. dollars) in tourism income, up 25.13 percent from the same period last year, the TAT said in a statement, quoting figures from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.

The top five source markets in the January-May period were China, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea and Laos, according to the figures.

In May alone, Thailand received 2,309,250 tourists, an increase of 38.21 percent over May 2014, and 18.79 percent over May 2013, the statement said.

By region, strong growth was reported in arrivals from East Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and America. Only the European market showed a decline, primarily because of the decline in arrivals from Russia.

Between January and April this year, the most visited provinces were Bangkok, followed by Nakhon Ratchasima, Phuket, Chon Buri and Chiang Mai, the TAT said.

Analysis of visitor expenditure in the January-May period indicated that the top spenders were tourists from China, followed by those from Malaysia, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, the statement said. Endi