Thai economy riding recovery in tourism, amid flailing exports 

Amid sliding exports and the sluggish world economy, tourism is playing a key role in shoring up Thailand’s economy. 

The tourism industry has generated 1.1 trillion baht revenue for the country in the first seven months of the year, 638.2 billion baht coming from spending by foreign tourists, deputy government spokesperson Traisuree Traisaranakul said recently.  

The number of foreign tourists arriving from January to July 30 reached over 15.32 million, a 384 per cent improvement compared to the same period last year, according to the Tourism and Sport Ministry.  

The ministry has predicted that at least 25 million tourists would visit Thailand this year, a big recovery over the previous two years, but well below the pre-COVID-19 figure of 39 million.  

The top five countries from where the tourists came were: Malaysia (2,439,710), China (1,839,660), South Korea (907,463),…