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Indian Visitors Cross Half Million Mark on Seven Months of 2011

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Bangkok, September 8, 2011 — Indian visitor arrivals crossed the half a million mark in January-July 2011, reinforcing the country’s position as one of Thailand’s most rapidly growing markets.
 
The total arrivals of 552,321 were up 36.21% over the same period of 2011, and made India the sixth largest source market for Thailand.

Thanks to improved facilitation, accessibility, affordability and Indian’s growing economy, visitor arrivals from India have been growing rapidly all through the past decade.

In 2000, Indian visitors totalled 224,104, rose to 381,471 in 2005 and 536,356 in 2007. They touched 760,371 in 2010 are expected to be very near the one-million mark for this year.

Indian citizens get a visa on arrival at Thailand’s international gateway checkpoints, and the facility has been improved to expedite the processing time.

Many Indians are venturing on their first trip abroad, and find Thailand the best place to start their international travels because it fits in well with their budget and time availability.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is noticing major increases in family travellers, first-time visitors as well as FIT travellers.

In 2010, first-time visitors from India were up by 50% and repeat visitors were up slightly by just under 5%. Incentives comprised the dominant share (35%) of visitors, and visitors coming to attend conventions and exhibitions were also up by 63% and 61%, respectively.

They recorded an average length of stay of 6.16 days.

The most popular tourist destinations for Indian visitors are Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Samui, Chiang Rai, Krabi, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya, and Koh Chang. Intra-regional tourism is showing a clear growth, particularly to the neighbouring countries of the Greater Mekong Sub-region.

 
Mr. Suraphon Svetasreni, TAT Governor said, “We project Indian arrivals certainly will cross the one-million mark by 2012. Effectively, they will have doubled in just five years – a remarkable achievement indeed.”