The international surveys recognised Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya as the world’s and Asia Pacific’s most popular destinations for international travellers.
The first MasterCard’s Asia Pacific Destinations Index 2015, which is an offshoot of the annual Global Destination Cities Index, ranked Bangkok as the most popular city, with 21.9 million international overnight visitors, representing a 28.6 per cent growth over the previous year. (See report here.)
The Thai capital also topped the total nights stayed by international tourists with a cumulative 107 million nights and also topped the total amount spent at US$15.2 billion.
Compared with destination cities in the Asia-Pacific, Bangkok retained its position at number one. This ranking has remained unchanged since 2013, when the Thai capital became the first Asian city to top the global list.
Phuket recorded 9.3 million international overnight visitors in 2015, marking 15.5 per cent growth year-on-year, while Pattaya which saw growth of 10 per cent, at 8.1 million.
In terms of total nights stayed and total expenditure, however, Phuket dropped in the rankings, earning a total of 40.8 million nights and an expenditure of US$8 billion (B283.224 billion), marked the MasterCard survey.
Pattaya chalked up a total of 27.2 million nights and total expenditure of US$3.1 billion (B109.749 billion).
Despite much hype within Thailand of Chiang Mai as a one of the nation’s leading tourism destinations, the northern capital failed to be marked in the top 20 of any of the surveys’ lists.
Meanwhile, Euromonitor International has released its fifth annual survey on ‘Top 100 City Destinations’ in terms of international tourist arrivals in 2014. Its ‘Top 100 City Destinations Ranking’ named three Thai destinations among the world’s top 25: Bangkok 4th, Phuket 17th and Pattaya 19th. (See report here.)
Dr Yuthasak Supasorn, Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), said, “We are honoured to be recognised by two of the world’s most prestigious organisations. Despite the challenges we had to go through in 2015, global travellers remain confident in our country and made a decision to make Thailand their travel destination.”
In 2015, the Thai tourism industry hit the highest record in its history, receiving tourism revenue of B1.4 trillion, a 23% increase year-on-year, and attracting 29.8 million international tourist arrivals, an increase of 20% over 2014.
For 2016, with the plan to focus less on the number of visitor arrivals and more on attracting quality tourists, the TAT is targeting B1.5 trillion in tourism revenue from international tourists.