Thailand saw a tourism deficit with Japan for the first time during the first half of 2023, as the number of Thais heading to Japan exceeded inbound Japanese visitors to Thailand.
From January to June, 497,700 Thai tourists visited Japan, while 326,347 Japanese nationals arrived in Thailand.
Even though the volume of Thai tourists travelling to Japan still lagged behind the 683,595 visitors recorded during the corresponding period in 2019, it was the first time Thailand had a tourism deficit with Japan due to the stagnant outbound Japanese market.
South Korean tourists also overtook the Japanese as this market continued to grow with 830,576 tourists arriving in Thailand this year between Jan 1 and July 16.
In 2019, Thailand welcomed 1.88 million tourists from Japan and 1.78 million travellers from South Korea, according to the Tourism and Sports Ministry. Based on data from the Japan National Tourism Organization, 1.3 million Thai tourists travelled to Japan.
Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) governor Yuthasak Supasorn said the slow outbound Japan market was largely due to the sluggish Japanese economy, particularly the weak yen, which is discouraging people from spending money abroad, but this benefitted Thai tourists who had more spending power to choose Japan over other destinations.
Mr Yuthasak said that as Japan had only just ended its border control measures on May 8, this also contributed to a sluggish flow of tourists as many wanted to avoid the complicated procedures, especially those who had not been vaccinated.
“The overall number of outbound Japanese shrank. Not only Thailand felt the impact. Meanwhile, as Japan has been the favourite destination of Thai tourists, when the borders were reopened and their spending power became more valuable due to the currency situation, Thailand saw a tourism deficit for the first time,” he said.
However, there were some good signs from last year as the market share of Thai tourism in the Japanese market increased to 12%, from 10% in 2019.
Mr Yuthasak said the agency hoped to increase market share to 15% when the market recovered, which hopefully will start to see a strong resumption during the holiday period in August.
To stimulate the market, TAT held the Amazing Thailand Fest 2023 in Osaka last week to maintain awareness among tourists by promoting Thai soft power through traditional events such as the Loy Krathong Festival.
The agency is also targeting younger tourists by bringing two famous Thai artists from the “Boys Love” TV series to this festival to help create new exposure to Thailand.
In August, the agency will invite media from Japan to inspect new tourism products in Bangkok, Ayutthaya, Chiang Mai, Phetchaburi and Samut Songkram, after holding a media briefing in Osaka last week to update the new products with 50 media organisations and travel agents.
This festival is a part of additional promotions for the post-Covid period, as the agency has planned Thailand festivals in four cities in four continents: New York, Barcelona, Osaka and Sydney.
Mr Yuthasak said TAT is preparing to open two new offices in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, and the US city of Chicago.
The new office in Riyadh is poised to help boost the market, which has been in the upward trend since Thailand restored its diplomatic relationship with Saudi Arabia in 2022, while the Chicago office will replace its Toronto office, which was already closed.
