BANGKOK, 6 February –Thailand’s annual tourism festival hosted in Bangkok’s Lumphini Park last month attracted 687,783 visitors, up 8.64% over the 2017 event.
This year’s Thailand Tourism Festival adopted the government’s directive to promote tourism to secondary tourist destinations.
Geared to promoting domestic tourism and highlight the Thai way of life exhibits were housed in five Thailand tourism villages.
Predictably most of the festival visitors were Thais resident in Bangkok. The footfall count indicated 651,188 Thais and just 36,595 foreigners attended.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand in its post-event evaluation estimated the festival generated a spend of THB 390.5 million. The major slice was spent on food and beverage (THB181 million) followed by crafts and products (THB154.71 million).
Among the 860 booths, the top 10 favourite destinations were: Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Phuket, Surat Thani, Nan, Krabi, Kanchanaburi, Mae Hong Son, Trang and Satun.
TAT governor, Yuthasak Supasorn, commenting on the festival said: “We are optimistic that the publicity generated will boost travel to provincial Thailand, in line with our strategy to promote rural areas, better balance visitor flows and distribute tourism income nationwide.”
