Tourism Thailand Only at Pre-Crisis Level by 2026

It may take at least another five years before tourism in Thailand is back to the level it was before the corona crisis.

And that’s a worrying development for an economy that typically relies on tourism for one-fifth of its revenue, the country’s National Economic and Social Development Council reports.

In Thailand, more than 7 million people are employed in the tourism industry. Many of them will have to find another job, the council said.

Thailand welcomed some 40 million visitors in 2019, the last full year before the crisis. That provided the country with $ 60 billion in revenue. Thailand, which closed its borders to most foreign visitors in March last year, is gradually reopening some domestic destinations to vaccinated visitors.

The Thai economy has been shrinking for five consecutive quarters. There will also be a contraction in the period from April to June. The country is suffering from the worst outbreak of the coronavirus to date.

The holiday island of Phuket will be the first to welcome tourists again in July. Ten other destinations are expected to follow in October. The government does not expect more than 500,000 visitors this year, a fraction of the 6.7 million travellers who visited the country last year. These mainly occurred in the first months of the year, before the corona outbreak.