SUNDAY, JANUARY 27, 2002
Thailand posts better tourist figures in 2001
AFP SUNDAY, JANUARY 27, 2002
YOGYAKARTA:The number of tourists visiting Thailand rose by 4.1 percent to 9.9 million in 2001, despite a massive slump following the September 11 terrorist strikes, a Thai official said here Saturday.
The deputy governor for planning and development at the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), Patpong Abhijatapong, said visitor numbers fell by 9.1 percent after the terrorist attacks on the United States.
Until the strikes, tourist arrivals had grown by more than eight percent for the year. Despite concerns about the downturn in regional tourism, Patpong said Thailand remained optimistic that about 10.5 million travellers would visit the country in 2002, up five percent from last year.
Thailand has recently launched a 283 million baht (6.4 million dollar) tourism promotion campaign in a bid to halt the decline in arrivals since the September 11 attacks. Patpong was speaking at the fifth Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Tourism Forum in Yogyakarta.
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